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Illinois  Historical  Survef 


THE  POLES 
IN  AMERICA 

PAUL  FOX 


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THE    POLES 
IN  AMERICA 


BY 

PAUL   FOX 

PASTOR,  ST.  PAUL'S  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  BALTIMORE,  MD. 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 

CHARLES  HATCH  SEARS 


NEW   XEJr    YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,    1922, 
BY   GEORGE    H.    DORAN    COMPANY 


PRINTED   IN    THE    UNITED    8TATE8   OP   AMERICA 


INTRODUCTION 

The  New  Americans  Series  consists  of  studies  of 
•  the  following  racial  groups  together  with  a  study  of 
the  Eastern  Orthodox  churches :   # 

Albanian  and  Bulgarian,  Armenian  and  Assyrian- 
Chaldean,   Czecho-Slovak,  Greek,   Italian,   Jewish, 
Juco-Slav  (Croatian,  Servian,  Slovenian),  Magyar, 
Polish,  Kussian  and  Ruthenian,  or  Ukrainian,  Span- 
-  ish  (Spaniards)  and  Portuguese,  Syrian. 

These  studies,  made  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Interchurch  World  Movement,  were  undertaken  to 
show,  in  brief  outline  the  social,  economic  and  re- 
ligious background,  European  or  Asiatic,  of  each 
croup  and  to  present  the  experience— social,  eco- 
nomic and  religious— of  the  particular  group  m 
America,  with  special  reference  to  the  contact  ol  tne 
given  people  with  religious  institutions  in  America. 
It  was  designed  that  the  studies  should  be  sympa- 
thetic but  critical.  .  , 

It  is  confidently  believed  that  this  series  will  help 
America  to  appreciate  and  appropriate  the  spiritual 
wealth  represented  by  the  vast  body  of  New  Amer- 
icans, each  group  having  its  own  peculiar  heritage 
and  potentialities;  and  will  lead  Christian  America, 
so  far  as  she  will  lead  them,  to  become  a  better  lover 

of  mankind.  ,       ,     , 

The  writer  in  each  case  is  a  kinsman  or  has  Had 
direct  and  intimate  relationship  with  the  people,  or 
croup  of  peoples,  presented.  First  hand  knowledge 
v  and  the  ability  to  study  and  write  from  a  deeply 
sympathetic  and  broadly  Christian  viewpoint  were 
^imary  conditions  in  the  selection  of  the  authors. 


S  508.^4.1 


vi  INTRODUCTION 

The  author  of  this  volume  was  bom  of  Polish 
parents  m  Kojkowitz,  Austrian  Silesia.    His  prepar- 
atory education  was  obtained  in  the  Imperial  Gym- 
nasium in  Teschen.     After  two  years  in  Marietta 
College    he  entered  Western  Reserve   University 
from  which  he  received  the  A.B.  and  A.M.  degrees! 
He  has  had  four  years  of  post  graduate  work  in 
*  ni?  ?°P™  s  J^versity.    He  is  also  a  graduate 
of  Oberlm  Theological  Seminary.    His  birth,  educa- 
tion and   pastoral   experience   in  Polish   churches 
peculiarly  fit  him  to  write  this  Study. 

These  manuscripts  are  published  through  the 
courtesy  of  the  Interchurch  World  Movement  with 
the  cooperative  aid  of  various  denominational 
boards,  through  the  Home  Missions  Council  of 
America. 

At  this  writing  arrangements  have  been  made  for 
the  publication  of  only  six  of  the  series,  namely, 
Czecho-Slovak,  Greek,  Italian,  Pole,  Magyar  and 
Russian,  but  other  manuscripts  will  be  published  as 
soon  as  funds  or  advanced  orders  are  secured. 

A  patient  review  of  all  manuscripts,  together  with 
a  checking  up  of  facts  and  figures,  has  been  made 
by  the  Associate  Editor,  Dr.  Frederic  A.  Gould,  to 
whom  we  are  largely  indebted  for  statistical  and 
verbal  accuracy.  The  editor  is  responsible  for  the 
general  plan  and  scope  of  the  studies  and  for  ques- 
tions of  policy  in  the  execution  of  this  work. 

Chaeles  Hatch  Sears. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAQB 

I    EUROPEAN    BACKGROUND    .....        17 

HISTORICAL    DEVELOPMENT 

Introductory 

Racial  Classification  and  Early  Home     .      .  17 
Influence  of  Location  on  National  Develop- 
ment      17 

Divisions  of  Polish  History 18 

J:  The  Formative  Period  of  Polish  National 
Life,  960-1306 

Poland's  Historical  Beginning       ....        18 

Christianity's  Influence  on  Economic  Devel- 
opment       19 

Poland's  Ecclesiastical  and  Political  Inde- 
pendence of  the  German  Empire  under 
Boleslaw  the  Brave,  992-1025   ....        19 

Three  Centuries  of  Reverses 19 

(a)  Wars  with  Jealous  Neighbors  ...         19 

(b)  Internal  Political  and  Religious  Re- 
action and  Consequent  Disorganization        20 

(c)  Struggle  for  Supremacy  among  the 
Princes  Resulting  in  the  Weakening  of 
Monarchial  Power 21 

(d)  Tartar  Invasions 22 

(e)  The  Teutonic  Knights 23 

vu 


PA41 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER 

II:    The  Period  of  Growing  Power,  Pros- 
perity,  and  Influence,   1306-1586 

The  Dawn  of  a  New  Era 24 

The  Significance  of  the   14th  Century   .      .        24 
Restoration  of  Poland's  Power  under  Wlady- 

slaw  I,    1306-1333 24 

Reorganization  of  the  State  by  Kazimir  the 

Great,  1333-1370 25 

Territorial    Expansion    under    Kazimir    the 

Great 26 

Beginning  of  a  New  Dynasty:  The  Jagiellos, 

1386-1572.     Union     of     Lithuania     with 

rniPoland 26 

The  Significance  of  the  15th  Century.     The 

Renaissance  in  Poland 27 

The  Hussite  Movement 28 

The  Supremacy  of  the  State  over  the  Church 

inPoland 29 

Defeat  of  the  Teutonic  Knights:  Poland  at 

the  Height  of  European  Power  ....  29 
The  Growing  Power  of  the  "Szlachta"  .  .  *  30 
The  Origin  of  the  "Sejm":  Its  Composition, 

Privileges,  and  Powers 30-31 

The    16th    Century— the    "Golden    Age"    of 

Poland's  History «, 

Economic    Prosperity   of   the    15th   and   the 

16th  Centuries 32 

The   Spread  of  the   Reformation  to  Poland  32 

Development  of  Literature  and  the-  Fine  Arts  33 
The  Influence  of  the  Reformation  on  Polish 

Language  and   Literature 34 

///;  The  Period  of  Poland's  Decline  and  Fall, 

1587-1795 

Poland's  Decline:  Its  Causes 36 


CONTENTS  ix 

CHAPTER  PAGr 

(a)  The  Elective  Kingship 36 

(b)  The  Catholic  Reaction 36 

(c)  Outside  Interference 36 

(d)  The    Blind    Selfishness    of   the   Aris- 
tocracy      36 

Poland's  Fall:  The  Partitions 37 

IV:    The  Period  of  National  Struggle  for 
Independence,  1795-1918 

V:  The  Restoration,  1918- 

ECONOMIC    CONDITIONS    OF    THE    POLISH    PEASANTRY 

Poland  Essentially  an  Agricultural  Country  .  38 
Economic    Conditions    of    Polish    Peasantry 

Poor:  Causes  Therefor 39 

(a)  Small  Landholdings 39 

(b)  Small  Productiveness 39 

(c)  High  Taxation 41 

(d)  Lack  of  Industrial  Development  .      .  41 

(e)  Low  Wages  and  Few  Working-Days  .  42 

Result:  Emigration 42 

Possibilities  of  Improvement 42 

(a)  In  Agriculture 42 

(b)  In  Industry 43 

SOCIAL   CONDITIONS   OF  THE    POLISH   PEASANTRY 

Polish  Peasants'  Education  Neglected     .      .  44 

Result:  Illiteracy 45 

Growing  Improvement  in  Education  ...  45 

Education — First  Concern  of  New  Poland   .  47 

Polish  Press 47 

Polish   Organizations 47 

Living  Conditions 48 


x  CONTENTS 

CH1PTBB  »AO» 

(a)  Housing •  48 

(b)  Food 48 

(c)  Clothing 49 

The  Lot  of  the  Polish  Peasant  Woman  .      .  49 

Recreation 49 

Group-Life,  National  Consciousness,  Patriot- 
ism         49 

RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  IN  POLAND 

The  Development  of  Christianity  in  Poland  51 

Hussitism  in   Poland 52 

Relative    Strength    of    Religious    Faiths    in 

Poland 53 

The  Attitude  of  the  Polish  People  toward  In- 
stitutional Religion 53 

Poland's  Religious  Needs 54 

II     POLISH  IMMIGRATION  TO  THE  UNITED 

STATES  AND  ITS  DISTRIBUTION     .      .  57 

History  of  Polish  Immigration       ....  57 

(a)  Early  Immigration  ......  57 

(b)  Later  Immigration 58 

Volume  of  Polish  Immigration       ....  58 

General  Causes  of  Polish  Immigration  .      •  59 

Special  Causes 59 

Character  of  Polish  Immigration  ....  60 
Distribution  and  Location  of  Polish   Immi- 
grants          61 

Migration  of  Poles  in  the  United  States  .      .  63 

Return  Movement 64 

Prospect  for  New  Immigration           •      •      •  64 


CONTENTS  xi 


CHAPTER  FAQB 

[II    ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS  OF  POLISH  IM- 
MIGRANTS IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  .  69 

Means  of  Livelihood 69 

Wages 69 

Other  Sources  of  Income 71 

N  Polish  Women  in  Industry 71 

Standard    of    Living    of    Polish    Industrial 

Workers 71 

Poles  in  Agriculture 73 

Transition  to  Agriculture 74 

Poles — Efficient  and  Successful  Farmers      .  74 

Poles  in  Business 75 

Poles  in  Industry 76 

Poles  in  the  Professions 76 

Value  of  Polish  Property  in  the  United  States  77 

IV    SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  AND  EDUCATIONAL 

FORCES 83 

Housing 83 

Family  Life 86 

Intermarriage 87 

Relation   to    Native   Americans    ....  88 

Social  Life  and  Recreation 88 

-  Civic  Life  and  Political  Relations  ....  89 

Organizations 90 

The  Church 92 

Educational  Institutions 92 

(a)  The  Parochial  School 92 

(b)  The  Public  School 95 

(c)  Secondary  Schools 96 

(d)  Night  Schools 97 

(e)  Lecture  Courses 97 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

(f)   Polish  National  Halls 97 

Polish  Press 98 

Leadership 99 

Assimilation 100 

V     RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS 107 

OUTSTANDING    CHARACTERISTICS 

Religion  of  the  Poles 107 

Disintegrating  Forces 110 

Form*  of  Religious  Break-up 112 

Forms  of  Religious  Re-alignment  .      .      .      .  113 

(a)  The     Polish     National     Independent 
Catholic  Church 113 

(b)  The  Polish  Catholic  Church  of  Amer- 
ica       .  114 

(c)  Anti-church  Organizations  .      .      .      .  114 

(d)  The  Protestant  Churches   .      .      .      .  115 
Forms  of  Religious  Approach 117 

SPECIAL    PROBLEMS 

Workers 121 

Literature 123 

Protestant  Policy 126 

Interdenominational  Cooperation  .      .      .      .  127 

**  The  Foreign-Language  Churches  and  Amer- 
ican National  Unity 129 

PRACTICAL    SOLUTIONS 

These  are  to  be  found  along  the  line  of 
interdenominational  cooperation  in  the  re- 
cruiting and  training  of  workers  and  in  the 
publication  of  Polish  literature. 

A  BRIEF  BIBLIOGRAPHY 137 

INDEX 141 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Principal  Square  Cracow 49 

A  Polish  Peasant  Home 49 

The  Wawel  Cathedral  of  St.  Sebastian:  Cracow   .      .  32 

The  Church  of  St.  Mary,  Cracow 32 

Poland's  Country  Side 

Plowing   with   Oxen 48 

Farming  with  Machinery 48 

A  Group  of  Polish  Women  in  Agriculture  (U.  S.)   .      •  96 

A  Group  of  Polish  Men  in  Agriculture  (U.  S.)  .      .      .  96 

Young  Polish  Miners  (U.S.) 97 

Learning  English  in  the  Ford  Shops,  Detroit  ...  97 


CHAPTER  I:  EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND 


THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

Chapter  I 
EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND 

HISTOKICAL  DEVELOPMENT 

Introductory 

Racial  classification  and  early  home.— The  Poles 
are  Slavs.  They  form  the  westernmost  branch  of 
the  Slavic  race.  Their  home,  since  prehistoric 
times,  has  been  Central  Europe,  the  region  east  and 
west  of  the  Vistula  River  between  the  Baltic  Sea 
and  the  Carpathian  Mountains. 

Influence  of  location  on  national  development.— 
Owing  to  this  central  location,  the  Poles  came  very 
early  into  contact  with  both  civilizations,  eastern 
and  western,  and  as  a  result  developed  rapidly  eco- 
nomically, culturally,  and  politically.  So  remark- 
able was  this  development  that  the  English  histo- 
rian Bain  says:  "In  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century  Poland  bore  upon  her  the  full  promise  of 
Empire.  .  .  .  She  was  indisputably  the  greatest 
power  of  central  Europe,  and  the  whole  world  re- 
garded her  as  the  chief  representative  of  the 
Slavonic  race."  x  And  the  famous  German  general 
C.  von  Moltke,  who  certainly  cannot  be  suspected  of 
Polish  partisanship,  in  his  "Historical  Sketch  of 
Poland,"  published  in  London  in  1895,  stated  that 

1  Bain,  The  Last  King  of  Poland,  p.  1. 

17 


18  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

Poland  prior  to  her  partitions  was  "the  most  civi- 
lized country  in  Europe. ' '  2 

Divisions  of  Polish  history.— Polish  history  nat- 
urally divides  itself  into  five  periods,  namely:  I. 
The  Formative  Period  of  Polish  National  Life  (960- 
1306) ;  II.  The  Period  of  Growing  Power,  Pros- 
perity, and  Influence  (1306-1586) ;  III.  The  Period 
of  Decline  and  Final  Fall  (1587-1795) ;  IV.  The  Pe- 
riod of  Subjugation  and  of  National  Struggle  for 
Independence  (1795-1918) ;  and  V.  The  Restora- 
tion (1918-).  The  first  is  the  period  of  the  forma- 
tion of  monarchical  power  under  the  rule  of  the 
Piast  dynasty  (960-1384).  The  second  period 
marks  a  transition  from  a  monarchy  to  a  republic 
of  nobles  under  the  Jagiellos  (1386-1572).  The 
third  is  the  period  of  elective  kings  (1572-1795)  and 
is  characterized  by  reaction  and  disorganization,  by 
a  decline  in  power  and  in  influence.  The  fourth  is 
the  period  of  repeated  attempts  on  the  part  of  the 
Poles  to  regain  their  independence.  And  the  fifth 
— the  period  of  Poland's  reestablishment  as  an  inde- 
pendent nation  as  a  result  of  the  World  War. 

I:  The  Formative  Period  of  Polish  National  Life, 

960-1306. 

Poland's  historical  beginning.— The  Polish  State 
emerges  upon  the  scene  of  history  with  the  consoli- 
dation of  the  Polish  tribes  under  Mieszko  I  (960- 
992),  and  with  the  introduction  of  Christianity  into 
Poland  through  Mieszko 's  marriage  to  the  Bohe- 
mian princess  Dubravka,  both  of  which  events 
marked  the  beginning  of  a  successful  resistance  of 
the  Poles  to  Teutonic  aggression,  conquest,  and  to 
their  policy  of  extermination  under  the  cover  of 
Christianization  of  the  heathen  Slavs. 

'Quoted  by  Dr.  Badosavlejevich  in  his  Who  Are  the  Slavs! 
Vol.  I,  p.  82. 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  19 

Christianity's  influence  on  economic  development. 

— The  introduction  of  Christianity  not  only  saved 
the  Poles  from  further  exterminative  conquests  by 
the  Germans  and  gave  them  a  new  religion,  but  also 
brought  about  an  improvement  in  their  economic 
conditions.  The  monastic  Orders  taught  the  Poles 
the  use  of  improved  agricultural  implements,  and 
showed  them  how  to  reclaim  swampy  lands  by 
drainage,  build  better  and  more  comfortable  houses, 
plant  orchards,  and  do  many  other  things  they  had 
not  known  before.  They  also  gave  an  impetus  to 
the  development  of  industry  by  bringing  with  them 
skilled  craftsmen  to  produce  certain  necessary 
things  which  the  natives  did  not  know  how  to  make.3 

Poland's  ecclesiastical  and  political  independence 
of  the  German  Empire  under  Boleslaw  the  Brave, 
992-1025.— Under  Mieszko  I's  successor,  Boleslaw 
the  Brave  (992-1025),  by  the  incorporation  of  neigh- 
boring Slavic  tribes,  Poland  gained  greatly  in  terri- 
tory, and  asserted  both  its  ecclesiastical  and  its  po- 
litical independence  of  the  German  Empire;  the 
first  by  the  establishment  of  an  archbishopric  at 
Gniezno  in  1000  A.  D.,  and  the  second  by  the  coro- 
nation of  Boleslaw  as  King  of  Poland  in  1025  by  the 
archbishop  of  Poland  "in  the  presence  of  Boleslaw 's 
feudatories  and  his  great  army  of  twenty  thousand 
warriors. ' ' 4 

Three  centuries  of  reverses.— After  Boleslaw 's 
death  in  1025  the  young,  rapidly  developed  kingdom 
was  forced  to  undergo  a  period  of  nearly  three  cen- 
turies of  repeated  reverses — a  trial  so  severe  that 
it  was  sufficient  to  disrupt  for  good  any  ordinary 
body  politic. 

(a)  Wars  with  jealous  neighbors.— First  came  a 
series  of  wars  with  jealous  neighbors,  the  German 
Empire,  Bohemia,  Hungary,  the  Duchy  of  Kiev,  and 

•  Of.  Dr.  E.  H.  Lewinski-Corwin,  Pol.  Hist  of  Poland,  p.  14. 

*  Ibidem,  p.  21. 


20  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

Denmark.  Taking  advantage  of  Mieszko  IPs  (1025- 
1034)  inertia  and  lack  of  foresight  and  daring,  these 
jealous  enterprising  neighbors  decided  to  compen- 
sate themselves  for  their  territorial  losses  during 
Boleslaw  's  reign ;  Germany  took  Lusatia ;  Bohemia, 
Moravia;  Hungary,  Slovakia;  the  Duchy  of  Kiev, 
Eed  Eussia,  or  eastern  Galicia ;  and  Denmark,  Pom- 
erania.  Poland  was  thus  stripped  of  nearly  all 
her  territorial  acquisitions  under  Boleslaw  the 
Brave. 

(b)  Internal  political  and  religious  reaction  and 
consequent  disorganization.— Next  followed  a  sav- 
age reaction  against  the  growing  burdensome  power 
of  the  State  and  particularly  against  the  exploita- 
tion of  the  Church.  With  the  growth  of  the  power 
of  the  State  the  earlier  patriarchal  form  of  govern- 
ment was  gradually  displaced  by  a  more  centralized 
administration,  curtailing  the  people's  liberty  and 
at  the  same  time  imposing  heavier  burdens  upon 
them  in  the  form  of  taxes.  For  to  preserve  the  ter- 
ritorial unity  of  the  State  the  king  was  compelled 
to  maintain  a  large  standing  army,  the  support  of 
which  could  be  secured  only  through  increased  tax- 
ation. A  more  centralized  administration  required 
a  growing  official  class  and  greater  Court  splendor, 
the  maintenance  of  which  had  to  fall  also  upon  the 
State  treasury.  Moreover,  the  imposition  upon  the 
people  of  tithes  for  the  support  of  the  Church  and 
the  clergy,  mostly  foreign  and  hated,  made  that 
burden  all  the  heavier  and  more  obnoxious.  As  a 
result  of  this  oppressive  taxation  by  Church  and 
State  and  the  harsh  treatment  experienced  at  the 
hands  of  feudal  lords  and  the  clergy,  the  people 
rose  in  revolt,  burned  and  demolished  cities,  castles, 
churches  and  monasteries,  in  many  places  murdered 
the  hated  priests  and  monks,  and  reverted  to 
paganism.5 

8Cf.  Dr.  Lewinski-Corwin,  pp.  15-22. 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  21 

(c)  Struggle  for  supremacy  among  the  princes  re- 
sulting in  weakness  of  monarchical  power.— Reor- 
ganization of  the  administration  and  partial  recon- 
quest  of  lost  territory  brought  in  a  period  of  re- 
stored order  and  of  renewed  strength.  This,  how- 
ever, did  not  last  long.  It  was  soon  followed  by  a 
period  of  bitter  struggle  among  the  members  of  the 
princely  family  for  supremacy  in  the  State.  It  re- 
sulted from  Boleslaw  Hi's  (1102-1138)  division  of 
the  principality  of  Poland  among  his  surviving  sons 
with  the  establishment  of  the  principle  of  seniority. 
This  made  the  sons  independent  rulers  of  their  re- 
spective provinces.  The  oldest,  however,  was  to  re- 
ceive the  Duchy  of  Cracow  in  addition  to  his  heredi- 
tary province,  and,  as  the  Grand  Duke  of  Cracow, 
was  to  be  the  supreme  head  of  the  whole  State  of 
Poland.  The  arrangement  suited  the  aristocracy 
and  the  clergy,  who  disliked  a  strong  centralized 
government,  excellently  well.  But  it  led  to  ceaseless 
civil  strife,  and  marked  the  beginning  of  the  decline 
of  monarchical  power  in  Poland.  For,  as  Dr.  Lew- 
inski-Corwin  says,  "the  authority  of  the  Duke  of 
Cracow  was  not  adequately  defined  by  law  and  was 
nil  in  practice.  The  heads  of  the  smaller  principali- 
ties were,  in  fact,  independent  rulers.  They  were 
free  to  establish  alliances  for  defensive  and  offen- 
sive warfare,  to  make  treaties,  and  to  maintain  in- 
dependent customs-barriers.  In  other  words,  Po- 
land of  the  thirteenth  century  was  no  longer  one 
solid  political  entity.  The  sovereignty  of  the  former 
state  became  diffused  among  a  number  of  smaller 
independent  political  units,  with  only  the  common 
bonds  of  language,  race,  religion,  and  tradition. ' ' 6 

Its  advantages  to  the  aristocracy  and  the  clergy.— 
This  state  of  political  affairs  was  greatly  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  aristocracy  and  of  the  clergy.  These 
two  classes  acquired  large  land  holdings  with  juris- 

•  Political  Hist,  of  Poland,  pp.  31-34. 


22  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

diction  over  their  peasants,  and  became  very  pow- 
erful in  the  thirteenth  century.  The  Church,  in  par- 
ticular, grew  stronger  steadily  due  to  its  splendid 
organization,  its  genius  for  accumulation  of  wealth, 
its  moral  control  over  the  people,  its  greater  inde- 
pendence resulting  from  the  adoption  in  Poland  of 
the  Gregorian  reforms,  and  to  its  representation  in 
the  Prince's  Council  since  1180  A.  D.  Thus  with 
the  growing  weakness  of  the  monarchical  power  in- 
creased the  wealth,  strength,  and  influence  of  the 
two  specially  privileged  classes,  the  barons  and  the 
clergy;  and  consequently  both  classes  were  putting 
forth  every  effort  to  maintain  the  existing  disorder 
of  things. 

(d)  Tartar  invasions.— Besides  these  troubles, 
Poland  suffered  much  from  the  Tartars  and  from  the 
Teutonic  Knights.  In  1241  savage  hordes  of  Tar- 
tars from  Asia  invaded  Poland,  and  ruthlessly  plun- 
dered, pillaged,  devastated,  and  depopulated  the 
country.  After  they  had  laid  the  country  waste 
completely,  their  attack  broke  at  last  on  the  field  of 
Lignica,  in  Silesia,  before  the  Polish  cavalry,  which 
arrested  their  further  invasion  of  Europe,  and 
thereby  saved  Western  civilization.7  The  Tartars 
flowed  back  into  the  steppes  of  the  Volga,  whence 
from  time  to  time  they  sent  plundering  expeditions 
into  Poland ;  but  never  again  succeeded  in  conquer- 
ing her,  nor  even  in  passing  through  her  territories 
in  order  to  plunder  and  lay  waste  other  countries. 
Poland,  says  Drogoslaw, ' '  thus  became  the  true  ram- 
part of  the  West  and  of  Western  civilization  for 
many  centuries,  and  shed  streams  of  her  blood  in 
holding  back  first  the  Tartar  hordes  and  later  the 
Turkish  armies,  which  menaced  the  very  existence  of 
the  civilized  world.  It  is  impossible  to  say  what 
might  have  become  of  the  western  peoples  and  the 

'Drogoslaw,  Poland,  p.  3;   Dufour,  Petite  Histoire  de  Pologne, 
p.  9. 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  23 

whole  civilization  of  Central  Europe  if  the  Polish 
nation,  though  politically  split  into  fragments,  had 
not  stood  its  ground,  watchful,  heroic,  always  ready 
to  make  every  sacrifice. ' ' 8 

(e)  The  Teutonic  Knights.— The  other  source  of 
constant  trouble  was  the  Order  of  the  Teutonic 
Knights.  Invited  to  Poland  in  1228  by  Conrad  of 
Mazovia  to  protect  his  territories  against  frequent 
incursions  of  the  barbarian  Prussians,  they,  having 
just  been  expelled  from  Hungary  by  Andrew  II  on 
account  of  their  political  pretensions,  joyfully  ac- 
cepted this  new  offer,  and  settled  in  the  district  of 
Culm,  roughly  corresponding  to  modern  West  Prus- 
sia, granted  them  for  their  quarters  by  Conrad. 
These  militant  Knights,  to  secure  themselves 
against  the  possibility  of  similar  expulsion  from  Po- 
land as  had  just  befallen  them  in  Hungary,  put 
themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  Pope  and  the 
German  Emperor,  procured  from  both  confirma- 
tions of  Conrad's  falsified  grant,  and  then  took  up 
the  Christianization  and  subjugation  of  the  Prus- 
sians systematically.  In  the  "  Christianized ' '  terri- 
tory, they  established  German  colonies,  built  for- 
tresses, and  organized  a  powerful  State.  Having 
established  themselves  in  conquered  Prussia,  and 
confident  in  the  protection  of  the  Pope  and  the  Ger- 
man Emperor,  they  turned  against  Poland,  shut  her 
off  from  the  sea,  and  became  her  most  bitter  and 
troublesome  enemy  until  they  were  at  last  com- 
pletely subdued  by  Casimir  IV  in  1466. 

The  end  of  Poland's  "Dark  Ages."— The  close  of 
the  thirteenth  century  marked  the  end  of  Poland's 
"Dark  Ages"  of  external  aggressions,  internal  dis- 
orders, political  divisions,  administrative  weakness, 
and  of  consequent  purgatorial  trials  and  sufferings ; 
the  end  of  a  period  in  which  the  aristocracy  and  par- 
ticularly the  Church  with  its  powerful  clergy  reigned 

•Poland,  p.  3. 


24  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

supreme,  and  the  princes  were  their  humble  de- 
pendent vassals. 

II:  The  Period  of  Growing  Power,  Prosperity,  and 

Influence,  1306-1586. 

The  dawn  of  a  new  era.— The  beginning  of  the 
fourteenth  century  ushered  in  the  dawn  of  a  new 
era.  The  next  three  centuries  were  centuries  of 
growth  and  progress ;  of  internal  reorganization,  ex- 
ternal expansion,  and  of  ever-increasing  political 
power  and  prestige. 

The  significance  of  the  fourteenth  century.— The 
fourteenth  century  witnessed  the  unification  of  the 
different  Polish  provinces,  the  reestablishment  of 
royal  power  and  authority  together  with  the  resto- 
ration of  the  royal  title  lost  in  the  eleventh  century, 
the  re-conquest  of  territories  taken  from  Poland  in 
time  of  her  disunion  and  weakness,  the  reorganiza- 
tion and  development  of  the  nation  along  adminis- 
trative, judicial,  educational,  and  economic  lines,  the 
beginning  of  a  new  dynasty,  and  the  voluntary  union 
of  Lithuania  with  Poland  in  1386. 

Restoration  of  Poland's  power  under  Wladyslaw 
1, 1306-1333.— The  unification  of  the  Polish  provinces 
and  the  recovery  of  the  royal  title  was  successfully 
effected  with  the  aid  of  the  Hungarians  by  Wladys- 
law I,  the  Short,  1306-1333,  in  spite  of  the  powerful 
opposition  of  Brandenburg,  the  German  Emperor, 
the  German  element  in  the  city  of  Cracow,  the 
clergy,  Great  Poland,  and  Bohemia.  The  odds 
against  Wladyslaw  were  so  great  and  his  achieve- 
ment was  so  remarkable  that  he  may  truly  be  re- 
garded as  the  first  real  restorer  of  Poland.  Hav- 
ing successfully  overcome  all  stubborn  opposition, 
Wladyslaw  united  Great  and  Little  Poland,  and  in 
1320  was  crowned  King  of  Poland  at  Cracow,  which 
henceforth  until  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  25 

became  the  capital  of  united  Poland.  To  secure 
himself  against  the  jealousy  of  Germany  and  Bo- 
hemia and  their  aggressions,  he  effected  a  number 
of  skillful  foreign  alliances;  in  1315  with  the  Scan- 
dinavian countries,  in  1320  with  Hungary,  by  giving 
his  daughter  Elizabeth  in  marriage  to  the  Hungarian 
king,  Charles  Robert,  and  in  1325  with  Lithuania, 
by  securing  the  hand  of  Grand  Duke  Gedymin's 
daughter,  Anna  Aldona,  for  his  son  Kazimir.  As- 
sisted by  Emperor  Louis  of  Germany  and  the  Mar- 
grave of  Brandenburg,  John  of  Luxemburg,  King  of 
Bohemia,  who  as  son-in-law  of  Waclaw  I  claimed  the 
right  to  the  throne  of  Poland,  made  war  on 
Wladyslaw  in  1327,  but  Wladyslaw  died  in  the  midst 
of  the  struggle  in  1333,  leaving  the  settlement  of  the 
war  to  his  son  and  successor,  Kazimir,  1333-1370. 

Reorganization  of  the  state  by  Kazimir  the  Great, 
1333-1370.— Kazimir 's  chief  endeavor  was  to  make 
peace  with  the  enemy,  even  though  it  cost  Poland 
the  cession  to  Bohemia  of  "the  pearl  of  the  Polish 
Crown,' '  the  westernmost  part  of  Silesia, — to  a 
part  of  which,  the  principality  of  Teschen,  the 
Czechs  lay  claim  today  on  fourteenth  century  his- 
torical grounds, — in  order  that  he  might  devote  all 
his  attention  and  energies  to  domestic  problems, 
economic,  social,  administrative,  judicial,  and  edu- 
cational, the  internal  reorganization,  development, 
and  strengthening  of  the  politically  unified  nation. 
His  long  reign  of  thirty-seven  years  made  it  pos- 
sible for  him  to  achieve  his  object.  He  brought 
about  uniformity  in  Polish  law  by  the  codification 
of  existing  laws,  reorganized  the  judicial  system  of 
the  country,  readjusted  the  relation  between  the 
peasantry  and  the  landlords,  facilitated  coloniza- 
tion, granted  special  protection  to  towns  and  fur- 
thered their  growth,  stimulated  industry  and  com- 
merce through  monetary  reforms  and  the  improve- 
ment of  the  means  of  communication,  established  the 


26  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

University  of  Cracow,  and  encouraged  education. 
It  is  of  interest  and  worth  while  to  remember  that 
the  University  of  Cracow  was  the  second  of  its  kind 
in  Central  Europe,  following  that  of  Prague  by  six- 
teen years  and  preceding  the  University  of  Vienna 
by  one  year,  of  Heidelberg  by  two  years,  of  Erfurt 
by  twenty-eight,  and  that  of  Leipzig  by  forty-five 
years.  In  Kazimir 's  time  Poland  had  a  number  of 
eminent  writers,  scientists,  and  jurists.  In  the  de- 
velopment of  the  cities  and  in  the  growth  of  their 
wealth  and  importance  Kazimir  saw  a  support  of 
the  kingly  power  against  the  disquietingly  growing 
might  and  lawlessness  of  the  magnates  and  nobility 
and  against  the  independence  of  the  Church.9 

By  the  end  of  Kazimir  's  reign  Poland  was  unified 
politically,  not  only  in  the  person  of  the  king,  as 
in  Wladyslaw's  case,  but  through  the  legal,  eco- 
nomic, and  social  reforms  Kazimir  had  been  able  to 
bring  about.  As  his  father  had  been  the  restorer  of 
Poland's  external  political  unity,  so  Kazimir  was 
the  restorer  of  Poland's  internal  unity,  prosperity, 
and  strength. 

Territorial  expansion  under  Kazimir  the  Great. 
— Moreover,  besides  his  beneficent  internal  reforms, 
Kazimir  extended  Poland's  boundaries  eastward  by 
reincorporating  definitely  into  Poland,  Red  Eussia, 
with  its  capital  of  Lwow,  or  what  we  now  know  as 
eastern  Galicia. 

The  beginning  of  a  new  dynasty:  The  Jagiellos, 
1386-1572.  Union  of  Lithuania  with  Poland.— With 
the  death  of  Kazimir  the  Great  in  1370  the  Piast 
dynasty  of  Polish  rulers  came  to  an  end.  The  Polish 
crown  passed  over  by  agreement  and  on  certain  con- 
ditions 10  to  Kazimir 's  nephew,  Louis  of  Hungary, 
and  finally  to  his  younger  daughter  Jadwiga,  who 
was  given  away  in  marriage  by  the  Polish  nobility 

9  See  Dr.  Lewinski-Corwin,  p.  62. 
"Ibidem,  pp.  64-65. 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  27 

to  Jagiello,  Grand  Duke  of  Lithuania,  in  1386,  and 
in  that  way  a  union  of  Lithuania  with  Poland  was 
effected  in  the  person  of  the  king, — a  union  which 
later  on  was  voluntarily  confirmed  by  the  pact  of 
Horodlo,  1413,  and  made  indissoluble  by  the  pact  of 
Lublin  of  1569. 

The  significance  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The  Ren- 
aissance in  Poland.— The  fifteenth  century  in  Polish 
history  was  marked  by  the  introduction  of  the  Ben- 
aissance  into  Poland,  the  spread  of  the  Hussite 
Movement,  the  supremacy  of  the  State  over  the 
Church,  Poland's  conquest  of  the  Teutonic  Knights, 
and  by  the  growth  of  the  power  of  the  gentry. 

In  1400  King  Wladyslaw  Jagiello  generously 
endowed  the  University  of  Cracow,  reorganized 
and  enlarged  it  by  adding  to  the  departments 
of  law,  medicine,  and  philosophy,  the  depart- 
ment of  theology.  Soon  the  fame  of  the  reor- 
ganized university  spread  all  over  Europe,  the 
university  became  a  center  of  humanistic  learning, 
attracted  the  scholastic  world  of  western  Europe, 
and  counted  among  its  graduates  a  great  number 
of  learned  men.  In  its  faculty  it  had  such  distin- 
guished men  as  Adalbert  Brudziew,  mathematician 
and  astronomer,  teacher  of  Copernicus,  and  Mat- 
thew Miechow,  distinguished  for  his  medical  knowl- 
edge and  works.  The  enrollment  of  the  university 
was  very  large,  and  both  the  students  and  the  fac- 
ulty were  drawn  from  all  classes  of  society  and 
from  many  countries.  In  the  second  half  of  the 
fifteenth  century  nearly  half  of  the  students  en- 
rolled were  of  foreign  birth.11  The  university  be- 
came a  living  link  connecting  Poland  with  European 
education  and  science.12  As  early  as  1416  the  Uni- 
versity of  Cracow  acquired  a  European  reputation 

11  See  Dr.  Lewinski-Corwin,  p.  73 ;  Litwinski,  Intellectual  Poland, 
p.  32. 
M  Prof.  Tarnowski,  quoted  by  Dr.  Corwin,  p.  75. 


28  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

so  far  as  to  venture  upon  forwarding  an  expression 
of  its  views  in  connection  with  the  deliberations  of 
the  Council  of  Constance,  siding  with  the  French 
theologians  in  support  of  the  supremacy  of  Church 
Councils  over  the  Papacy,13  and  toward  the  close 
of  the  fifteenth  century  it  was  in  high  repute  as 
a  school  of  both  astronomical  and  humanistic 
studies.14 

Among  the  distinguished  scholars  and  writers  of 
this  century  were  George  of  Sanok,  who  contributed 
a  great  deal  toward  the  awakening  of  interest  in  the 
ancient  authors  and  in  their  philosophy  of  life ;  John 
Ostrorog  (1420-1501),  who  wrote  a  remarkable 
treatise  advocating  the  subordination  of  the  Church 
to  the  State ;  Paul  of  Brudziew,  rector  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Cracow  and  author  of  the  "Tractatus  de 
potestate  Papae  et  Imperatoris  respectu  Infidelium, ' ' 
presented  to  the  Council  of  Constance  in  1415 ;  and 
foremost  among  them  all  the  historian  John  Dlugosz 
(1415-1480),  author  of  "the  most  profound  historical 
works  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The  erudition  of 
the  author,  the  painstaking  examination  of  the 
sources,  his  searching  criticism  and  gift  of  analysis 
and  observation,  his  masterful  classification  and 
method  of  presentation  marked  an  era  in  history 
writing  and  laid  solid  foundations  for  all  future  na- 
tional histories  of  Poland."  15 

The  Hussite  movement.— Another  thing  that  pro- 
foundly stirred  the  life  of  the  Polish  nation  in  the 
fifteenth  century  was  the  Hussite  movement.  It 
spread  to  Poland  early,  and  won  many  adherents 
and  sympathizers.  The  Hussites  of  Bohemia  had 
gone  so  far  as  to  offer  the  crown  of  their  country 
to  the  Jagiellos.  The  offer  wras  not  accepted  due  to 
the  powerful  influence  of  Cardinal  Zbigniew  Oles- 

M  Prof.  Alex.  Bruckner,  Hist.  Lit.  Polskiej,  I,  p.  26. 
MEnc.  Brit.,  1911,  XXVII,  p.  757. 
15  Dr.  Lewinski-Corwin,  p.  104. 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  29 

nicki  and  the  strong  reactionary  clerical  party  in 
Poland.  The  Hussite  movement,  however,  as  it 
spread  through  the  country,  created  a  new  religious 
atmosphere,  and  prepared  the  way  to  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  State  from  the  domination  of  the 
Church  by  King  Kazimir  IV  (1447-1492)  and  for 
the  reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  Supremacy  of  the  State  over  the  Church  in 
Poland.— Kazimir  Js  first  step  after  the  coronation 
was  to  restrict  the  power  of  the  clergy  by  subordi- 
nating the  Church  to  the  State.  In  this  he  was  aided 
materially  by  two  circumstances — the  then  existing 
strife  between  the  Polish  gentry  and  the  Polish 
clergy  over  the  payment  of  tithes  (the  gentry  in- 
sisting upon  paying  them  in  specie,  and  the  clergy 
upon  payments  in  kind),  and  the  schism  in  the 
Church  which  resulted  from  the  controversy  regard- 
ing the  superiority  of  Church  Councils  over  the 
Popes.  In  the  long-drawn-out  struggle  the  king 
won;  the  nomination  of  bishops,  or  the  right  of  in- 
vestiture lost  in  the  thirteenth  century  to  the 
Church,  became  henceforth  a  recognized  attribute  of 
the  Polish  kings. 

Defeat  of  the  Teutonic  Knights:  Poland  at  the 
height  of  European  power.— Then,  too,  in  the  fif- 
teenth century,  by  defeating  the  Teutonic  Knights 
Poland  attained  great  importance  as  a  European 
power.  Poland's  victory  over  the  Knights  in  the 
battle  of  Grunwald  in  1410  broke  the  power  of  the 
Order,  and  put  an  end  to  German  domination  over 
Polish  lands.  In  1466  Jagiello  's  younger  son,  Kazi- 
mir IV  (1447-1492),  crushed  the  Knights  completely 
and  definitely,  and  forced  them  by  the  Peace  of 
Thorn,  of  the  same  year,  to  restore  to  Poland  the 
territories  formerly  torn  from  her,  namely  West 
Prussia,  Ermland,  and  the  eastern  part  of  Pome- 
rania,  including  the  city  of  Gdarfsk,  or  Danzig.  Thus 
Poland  regained  access  to  the  Baltic,  and  was  now 


30  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

again  enabled  to  communicate  freely  with  the  out- 
side world.  Unfortunately,  however,  it  made  a  se- 
rious mistake  in  that  it  had  not  driven  out  the 
Teutonic  Knights  altogether  from  the  territories  in 
which  they  had  established  themselves ;  and  in  that 
it  had  allowed  (1525)  Albert  of  Hohenzollern,  the 
Grand  Master  of  the  Order,  to  become  the  secular 
prince  of  the  vassal  province  of  East  Prussia,  even 
though  the  Dukes  of  Prussia  promised  to  recognize 
Poland's  sovereignty,  and  agreed  to  pay  homage 
and  tribute  to  the  Polish  king.  This  concession 
^  led  to  a  gradual  Germanization  of  the  Polish  popu- 
lation of  East  Prussia  and  to  the  transformation  of 
the  vassal  duchy  into  a  powerful  German  state, 
which  was  destined  to  play  such  a  sinister  part  in 
the  history  of  Poland  and  of  Europe.16 

Growing  power  of  the  "szlachta."— The  fifteenth 
century  marked  also  the  growth  of  the  power  of 
the  Polish  nobility,  or  szlachta.  As  the  szlacMa 
paid  with  its  blood  for  victories  on  innumerable  bat- 
tle-fields, it  held  that  these  sacrifices  were  worthy 
of  reward  in  the  form  of  special  privileges  and  lib- 
erties not  enjoyed  by  other  classes.  The  extinction 
of  the  Piast  dynasty  in  1370  afforded  it  the  first  op- 
portunity for  the  exaction  of  special  privileges  for 
itself  as  a  class.  The  throne  of  Poland  made  vacant 
by  the  death  of  Kazimir  the  Great,  fell  to  Kazimir's 
nephew,  Louis  of  Anjou,  King  of  Hungary.  Louis, 
however,  having  no  male  issue  and  desiring  to  se- 
cure the  crown  for  one  of  his  daughters,  accorded 
the  Polish  nobility  by  the  Pact  of  Koszyce,  in  Hun- 
gary, 1374,  privileges  which  made  their  class  more 
powerful  to  the  detriment  of  the  royal  authority. 
During  the  succeeding  century  these  privileges  grew 
steadily  until  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century  we 
see  the  Polish  nobility  at  the  helm  of  government. 

The  origin  of  the  "Sejm.M— With  the  accession 

"  Cf .  Dr.  Lewinski-Corwin,  pp.  131-133. 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  31 

to  the  throne  of  Poland  of  John  I  Olbracht  (1492- 
1501)  the  Polish  "Sejm,"  or  National  Diet,  comes 
into  being,  and  from  now  on  to  the  end  Poland  has 
a  regular  parliamentary  government,  in  which  the 
nobility,  particularly  the  knighthood  or  gentry, 
plays  the  leading  role.  Thus  the  power  of  the  king, 
which  in  western  Europe  developed  on  the  ruins  of 
feudalism,  and  ultimately  in  consequence  of  relig- 
ious strife  grew  absolute,  became  limited  in  Poland, 
and  in  1501  the  role  of  the  Polish  king  was  reduced 
to  that  of  the  President  of  the  Senate. 

Its  composition,  privileges,  and  powers.— The  Na- 
tional Diet  consisted  of  two  chambers,  the  Senate, 
composed  of  lay  and  church  dignitaries  and  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  the  members  of  which  were 
elected  by  the  county  diets  from  among  the  gentry. 
As  in  all  parliamentary  governments,  the  Chamber 
of  Deputies  was  the  more  powerful  and  influential; 
its  decisions  were  determining.  Freedom  of  speech 
was  subject  to  no  restrictions.  Inviolability  of  prop- 
erty and  person  were  guaranteed  by  law ;  the  first  by 
the  pact  of  1422,  the  second  by  the  privilege  of 
1433.  The  Polish  ' '  Neminem  captivabimus  nisi  jure 
victum"  provision  of  1433  preceded  the  English 
"Habeas  Corpus  Act"  by  two  hundred  and  forty- 
six  years.  The  szlachta  reached  the  climax  of  its 
political  aspirations  when  in  1505  it  secured  the 
passage  of  the  statute  known  as  "Nihil  novi,"  pro- 
viding that  nothing  new  could  be  done  or  undertaken 
by  the  king  without  the  common  consent  of  both 
the  Senate  and  the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  Thus 
with  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
"Sejm"  became  the  legislative  and  most  important 
governmental  organ  in  Poland  and  the  szlachta  the 
most  powerful  and  influential  element. 

The  sixteenth  century— the  "Golden  Age"  of  Po- 
land's history.— In  the  sixteenth  century  Poland 
reached  the  climax,  not  only  of  its  political  develop- 


32  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

ment,  but  also  of  its  material  prosperity,  its  literary 
and  artistic  glory,  and  of  its  international  influence. 
The  sixteenth  century  was  the  "Golden  Age"  of 
Poland's  history  in  every  sense  of  the  term. 

Economic  prosperity  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth 
centuries.— In  1466  Prussia,  with  its  seaports,  became 
a  part  of  Poland,  and  the  whole  course  of  the  Vistula 
River  returned  under  the  control  of  the  Polish  gov- 
ernment. This  gave  a  great  impetus  to  commerce 
and  agriculture.  Large  freight  fleets  sailed  upon 
the  Vistula,  carrying  cargoes  of  wheat,  rye,  hemp, 
tar,  honey,  wax,  bristles,  fats,  lumber,  skins,  and 
furs  to  Danzig.  The  enormous  growth  of  exports 
produced  a  marked  effect  upon  the  cities.  Due  to 
the  introduction  of  credit  on  an  extensive  scale,  they 
grew  in  wealth,  and  many  families  acquired  great 
riches.  Private  mansions,  artistic  public  buildings, 
and  beautiful  churches  adorned  the  towns.  Art 
flourished.  Wit  Stwosz,  the  great  Polish  sculptor 
of  the  time,  was  a  natural  product  of  his  age.  Many 
foreign,  particularly  Italian,  architects  were  brought 
over  to  design  public  and  private  buildings.  In  daily 
life  the  burghers  wore  sumptuous  dress  of  silk  and 
lace,  fine  furs,  gold,  jewelry,  and  precious  stones. 
Poor  indeed  was  the  master  artisan  or  merchant 
who  did  not  use  silver  table  ware  at  home  and  whose 
wife  did  not  possess  a  bonnet  ornamented  with 
^  pearls.  The  many  gold,  silver,  and  bronze  can- 
delabra, chandeliers,  candlesticks,  and  other  domes- 
tic utensils  left  from  that  period,  still  found  in 
churches,  museums,  and  in  private  families  as  heir- 
looms, bear  ample  testimony  to  the  prosperity  of 
the  Polish  cities  and  of  the  country  at  large  in  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries.17 

The  spread  of  the  Reformation  to  Poland.— The 
Reformation,  which  spread  all  over  Europe  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  stirred  the  life  of  every  na- 

11  See  Dr.  Lewinski-Corwin,  pp.  111-117. 


THE   WAWEL;    CRACOW 


THE   CHURCH   OF   ST.  MARY:    CRACOW 


page  SI 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  38 

tion  to  its  very  foundations,  speedily  penetrated  into 
Poland,  and  grew  influential  rapidly.  Lutheranism 
found  favor  with  the  German  population  of  the 
cities ;  Calvinism — with  the  Polish  nobility,  particu- 
larly with  the  magnates  and  nobles  of  Little  Poland ; 
Hussitism,  revived  under  the  name  of  the  Bohemian 
Brethren — with  the  people  of  Great  Poland;  and 
Socinianism,  or  Unitarianism — with  the  Ruthenian 
population  of  eastern  Galicia.  Among  the  native 
Poles  Calvinism  was  more  popular  than  Lutheran- 
ism or  any  other  form  of  the  religious  reform  move- 
ment for  the  simple  reason  that  it  was  non-German 
in  origin  and  that  it  admitted  laymen  to  church 
councils,  giving  them  a  part  in  the  government  of 
the  Church.  On  that  account  it  was  considered  as 
more  appropriate  for  a  free  state  and  a  free  people.18 
So  rapid  was  the  growth  of  the  Reformation  in 
Poland  that  by  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century 
the  Protestants  were  absolutely  supreme  in  the  Na- 
tional Diet,  and  invariably  elected  a  Calvinist  as 
marshal  of  the  Diet.  At  the  Diet  of  1555  they  boldly 
demanded  a  national  synod,  absolute  toleration,  and 
the  equalization  of  all  sects,  except  the  Antitrini- 
tarians.19  And  so  powerful  was  the  influence  of  the 
Reformation  on  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  life  of 
the  nation  that  the  sixteenth  century  is  known  in  Po- 
lish history  as  the  "Golden  Age"  of  Polish  culture 
and  literature. 

The  development  of  literature  and  the  fine  arts.— 
With  prosperity  came  the  fine  arts.  Science,  art, 
and  literature  flourished,  and  Polish  culture  reached 
an  unprecedented  degree  of  development.  It  was 
the  fruit  of  the  Renaissance  and  the  Reformation 
as  well  as  Polish  freedom  and  tolerance.  Owing  to 
the  somewhat  reactionary  policy  of  the  University 
of  Cracow  at  this  time,  the  Polish  nobility  and  the 

"See  Dr.  Lewinski-Corwin,  p.  139. 

"Enc.  Brit.,  Art.  "Poland."     Bain,  Slavonic  Europe,  pp.  77-78. 


34  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

burgesses  sent  their  sons  abroad,  to  the  universities 
of  Germany,  Italy,  and  France.  The  young  men  re- 
turned with  new  ideas  about  life,  government,  and 
religion,  and  full  of  enthusiasm  over  them  and  of 
zeal  in  their  propagation.  The  popularity  of  the 
Reformation  at  home  still  further  augmented  this 
enthusiasm  and  zeal.  A  host  of  talented  writers 
appeared.  Some  discussed  matters  of  state  freely, 
and  criticized  the  existing  conditions,  pointing  out, 
as  did  the  highly  gifted  Andrew  Frycz  Modrzewski, 
the  necessity  of  equalization  of  all  the  estates  before 
the  law,  and  the  advantages  of  a  prosperous  free 
peasantry.  Others,  like  Orzechowski,  thundered 
against  the  despotism  of  the  nobility,  the  iniquities 
and  the  foreign  character  of  the  Church,  and  the 
great  privileges  of  the  Jews  in  matters  of  money 
lending  and  usury.  Historians,  poets,  dramatists, 
and  fiction  writers  sprang  up  in  large  numbers 
among  all  classes  of  society.20 

The  influence  of  the  Reformation  on  Polish  lan- 
guage and  literature.— With  the  spread  of  the  Re- 
formation the  Polish  language  came  into  use  in  lit- 
erature, displacing  Latin.  The  Bible  was  translated 
into  Polish,  and  a  large  number  of  pamphlets  in- 
tended for  the  mass  of  the  people  was  written  in 
Polish.  In  1536  even  the  City  Council  of  Cracow 
proclaimed  Polish  as  the  language  to  be  used  in 
prayers  and  sermons  in  the  churches  of  the  city. 
German  and  Latin  books  began  to  give  way  to  Po- 
lish prints. 

Polish  literature  had  its  beginning  with  Nicholas 
Rey  (1505-1569),  a  Protestant,  an  ardent  advocate 
of  Calvinism  in  Poland,  an  eminent  writer  and 
wholesome  philosopher,  and  the  greatest  satirist  of 
the  time.  His  pictures  of  life,  men,  manners,  and 
customs  of  the  time  are  masterpieces  of  style,  wit, 
and  clearness  of  expression,  and  served  as  models 

*°Dr.  Lewinski-Corwin,  p.  146. 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  35 

to  many  succeeding  writers.  Another  vigorous,  in- 
cisive, and  voluminous  writer  in  Latin  and  Polish 
was  Stanislaw  Orzechowski  (1613-1566).  He  was  a 
relative  of  Key,  and  for  a  time  a  very  bitter  oppo- 
nent of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  but  a  man  with- 
out stable  principles.  Andrew  Frycz  Modrzewski 
(1503-1572)  wrote  a  great  deal,  but  largely  in  Latin, 
and  was  a  fearless  champion  of  reforms  in  State 
and  Church.  He  was  a  friend  of  Melancthon  and  a 
life-long  supporter  of  the  Reformation.  Martin 
Bielski  (1495-1575),  a  Protestant,  wrote  a  history 
of  Poland  in  Polish.  The  greatest  literary  figure 
of  this  age,  however,  was  Jan  Kochanowski  (1530- 
1584).  In  his  poetical  writings  he  displayed  great 
mastery  of  the  Polish  language.  His  poems  and 
dramas  delight  the  most  fastidious  taste  by  their 
beauty,  deep  thought,  and  fine  sentiment,  and  are 
considered  as  a  model  of  highly  cultured  language 
to  the  present  time.  Kochanowski  was  a  true  son  of 
the  Renaissance,  indifferent  to  the  Church  of  Rome 
though  devout,  imbued  with  republican  ideas,  broad- 
and  liberal-minded.21  Some  of  the  most  beautiful 
religious  songs  to  this  day  are  from  his  pen.  The 
stimulus  given  to  writing  in  Polish  supplied  by  the 
religious  reformers  gained  momentum  as  time  ad- 
vanced, and  as  early  as  1548,  at  the  funeral  of  King 
Sigismund  I,  the  Old,  the  Bishop  of  Cracow,  for  the 
first  time  in  history,  used  Polish  on  so  solemn  an 
occasion.22 

Thus,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  Poland  reached  the 
zenith  of  its  territorial  expansion,  its  political  great- 
ness and  influence,  its  economic  prosperity,  its  par- 
liamentary government,  its  culture  and  its  religious 
life  and  tolerance. 

aJan  Holewinski,  Hist,  of  Polish  Literature,  p.  187. 
"Dr.  Lewinski,  p.  149. 


36  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA        * 

III:  The  Period  of  Decline  and  Fall,  1587-1795. 

Poland's  decline:  its  causes.— The  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries  were  centuries  of  decay,  de- 
cline, and  final  fall  of  Poland.  The  causes  of  this 
decline  and  final  fall  were  various,  and  in  their  de- 
teriorating effect  upon  the  life  of  the  nation  and  the 
body  politic — cumulative. 

(a)  The  elective  kingship.— First,  there  was  the 
elective  kingship  with  all  its  attendant  mischievous 
consequences,  political  bargaining,  bribery,  foreign 
interferences,  lack  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the  sov- 
ereigns in  Poland's  welfare  due  to  their  limited 
tenure  of  office,  and  frequent  interregna  with  un- 
settled conditions  resulting  from  them. 

(b)  The  Catholic  reaction.— Then,  there  was  the 
Catholic  reaction,  stemming  the  tide  of  intellectual 
and  religious  progress,  fomenting  dissensions, 
spreading  intolerance  and  persecutions,  getting  con- 
trol of  education  and  setting  back  the  clock  of  Po- 
land's intellectual  and  spiritual  progress  by  two  to 
three  centuries. 

(c)  Outside  interference.— Next,  came  constant 
outside  interference  in  Poland's  internal  affairs  in 
an  effort  to  maintain  the  existing  disorder  of  things 
in  order  to  profit  by  it.  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Aus- 
tria did  all  they  could  to  make  it  impossible  for  the 
Poles  to  set  their  house  in  order,  and  then  charged 
the  Poles  with  inability  to  govern  themselves,  and 
used  that  as  a  pretext  for  the  partition  of  Poland. 

(d)  The  blind  selfishness  of  the  aristocracy.— And, 
as  a  strong  reenforcement  of  the  cause  just  de- 
scribed, there  was  the  blind,  egotistic  selfishness  and 
greed  of  the  aristocracy,  which  led  them,  in  their  de- 
sire to  build  up  their  private  fortunes,  whether  ma- 
terial or  political,  into  the  trap  of  foreign  false 
promises  and  entangling  alliances,  and  thus  to  an 
unwitting  betrayal  and  sacrifice  of  their  country. 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  37 

Poland's  fall:  the  partitions.— Suffering  from  these 
and  other  ills,  the  country  could  not  forever  resist 
their  deteriorating  and  destructive  effects  as  well 
as  the  growing  aggressiveness  and  territorial  greed 
of  her  neighbors.  In  the  end  it  had  to  succumb  to 
the  inevitable,  and  her  three  partitions  followed; 
the  first  in  1772,  the  sceond  in  1793,  and  the  third  in 
1795.  By  these  three  partitions  Russia  obtained  the 
lion's  share  of  the  prey,  Prussia — the  next  largest, 
and  Austria  had  to  content  herself  with  the  smallest 
portion. 

IV:  The  Period  of  National  Struggle  for 
Independence,  1795-1918. 

The  partitions  made  an  end  of  Poland  as  an  in- 
dependent state;  but  not  of  the  Polish  nation  as  a 
living,  active,  and  growing  organism,  struggling  des- 
perately for  existence.  Poland's  political  form  was 
torn  asunder,  but  her  spiritual  life  incarnated  in 
the  lives  of  her  people  continued.  It  asserted  and 
reasserted  its  vitality  and  its  virility  by  repeated 
insurrections  until,  in  1914-1918,  the  power  and  the 
importance  of  the  Polish  nation  became  generally 
felt  and  recognized,  and  as  a  result  the  nation  rose 
again  to  new  political  independence. 

V:  The  Restoration,  1918. 

With  the  reestablishment  of  Poland  as  a  new  po- 
litical power,  in  1918,  Polish  history  begins  a  new 
period — the  Restoration.  The  beginning  is  very 
hopeful  and  very  promising. '  The  provisional  gov- 
ernment is  in  the  hands  of  sane,  far-sighted,  mod- 
erate progressives,  with  Marshal  Joseph  Pilsudski 
at  the  head.  New  Poland  is  a  Republic,  and  will 
remain  a  Republic,  with  a  most  liberal  democratic 
constitution.     During  the  three  years  of  its  inde- 


38  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

pendent  political  existence  the  nation  has  weathered 
the  storm  of  war  that  has  still  raged  unabated 
around  it,  has  successfully  coped  with  all  sorts  of 
difficulties,  and  has,  in  spite  of  all  odds,  made  won- 
derful progress  in  the  reorganization  and  recon- 
struction of  its  political,  economic,  and  social  life. 
As  always  in  its  history,  so  now  again  Poland  is 
abreast  with  the  times,  in  the  front  ranks  of  prog- 
ress. It  fully  recognizes  the  rights  of  all  social 
classes,  of  the  peasantry,  the  industrial  class  as  well 
as  of  those  enjoying  heretofore  special  privileges 
and  is  moving  in  the  direction  of  a  sane  solution  of 
pressing  economic  and  social  problems  fearlessly, 
but  judiciously.  It  is  neither  timidly  reactionary, 
nor  recklessly  radical.  It  exhibits  the  wisdom  and 
foresight  characteristic  of  real  statesmanship.  As 
to  equal  rights  for  men  and  women,  Poland  is  the 
one  nation  that  has  granted  women  full  suffrage 
rights  without  the  women  having  been  forced  to  fight 
for  them.  All  Poland  needs  is  a  fair  chance,  and  it 
will  work  out  its  destiny. 

ECONOMIC    CONDITIONS   OF   THE   POLISH   PEASANTEY 

Poland  essentially  an  agricultural  country.— Po- 
land is  essentially  an  agricultural  country ;  the  great 
majority  of  her  people  derive  their  subsistence  from 
tilling  the  soil.  Before  the  war,  in  Russian  Poland, 
73.4%  of  the  population  were  living  in  villages; 
in  Prussian  Poland — 69.3% ;  and  in  Austrian  Po- 
land— 80.1  %.23  In  other  words,  before  the  war  in 
eastern  Galicia,  for  instance,  sixty-seven  persons  in 
a  square  kilometer  lived  by  agriculture,  in  western 
Galicia — eighty  persons,  while  in  the  rest  of  old 
Austria  the  figure  was  thirty-six,  and  for  Germany 
only  thirty-four.24 

**  Journal  of  the  Am.-Polish  Chamber  of  Com.,  Dec,  1920,  p.  5. 
34  Dr.  A.  Gorski,  Braki  krajowej  produkcji  w  Galicji,  p.  35. 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  39 

Economic  condition  of  Polish  peasantry,  poor. 
Causes  therefor.— The  economic  condition  of  the 
Polish  peasantry  has  unfortunately  been  very  poor 
and  deplorable  thus  far,  owing  to  (a)  small  land- 
holdings,  (b)  primitive  method  of  agriculture,  (c) 
high  taxation,  (d)  lack  of  industrial  development, 
and  (e)  low  wages. 

(a)  Small  landholdings.— Each  peasant  owns  a 
strip  of  land.  These  peasant  holdings  vary  consid- 
erably as  to  size,  and  in  many,  if  not  in  most,  in- 
stances are  inadequate  to  give  their  owners  suffi- 
cient support.  In  Poznania  farms  of  five  hec- 
tares,25 or  about  twelve  acres  and  less,  constitute 
only  6.8%  of  the  total  land-area;  in  Galicia  such 
farms  constitute  84.4% ;  and  in  former  Russian  Po- 
land farms  of  less  than  3.4  hectares  constitute  37.1% 
of  the  total  land-area  and  farms  of  less  than  8.5 
hectares — 44.4%. 26  Moreover,  these  holdings  are 
divided  among  the  children  of  the  household,  and 
this  tends  to  make  them  smaller  with  each  succeed- 
ing generation.  In  Galicia  in  1882  a  peasant  hold- 
ing averaged  5  "morgi," 27  or  approximately  7 
acres,  and  in  1896  the  average  dropped  down  to  4.2 
"morgi,"  or  to  less  than  six  acres.  And  it  has  been 
estimated  that  the  lowest  minimum  necessary  for 
the  support  of  a  peasant  family  is  10  "morgi/'  or 
about  13  acres.28 

(b)  Small  productiveness.— To  these  small  peasant 
holdings,  and  partly  as  an  inevitable  result  of  them, 
there  is  added  small  productiveness.  The  produc- 
tiveness of  land  on  large  estates  is  relatively  satis- 
factory, but  that  of  peasant  land  is  very  poor. 
Galicia,  for  instance,  produced,  in  1902-11,  11  quin- 
tals 29  of  wheat,  12  of  barley,  and  11  of  rye  per  one 

35  One  hectare — 2.47  acres. 

26  Journal  Am.-Pol.  Chamber  of  Com.,  for  Dec,  1920,  p.  5. 

■  One  ■ ■  morg ' ' — 1.32  acres. 

38  Dr.  L.  Caro,  Emigracja,  p.  77. 

88  One  quintal — 220.46  pounds. 


40  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

hectare  of  land,  while  Germany  produced,  in  1908- 
12,  20.7  quintals  of  wheat,  20.1  of  barley,  and  17.8 
of  rye  per  hectare.30  Galicia,  deducting  seed,  pro- 
duced before  the  war  112  kilograms  of  wheat,  rye, 
and  corn  per  inhabitant;  Russia,  deducting  exports 
and  seed,  produced  370  kilograms  of  cereals  per  in- 
habitant; Germany,  200;  France,  of  wheat  alone, 
240,  and  England  about  190.  Galicia,  therefore, 
produced  cereals  from  two  to  three  times  less  than 
she  needed  for  her  own  consumption  according  to 
western  European  standards.31  Neither  Galicia,  nor 
former  Russian  Poland  produced  before  the  war 
enough  corn  to  feed  their  own  populations.  Galicia, 
to  be  sure,  exported  some  grain,  but  it  imported  one- 
fourth  of  the  flour  it  consumed  from  Hungary,  that 
is,  about  two  and  a  half  million  quintals,  or  25,000 
carloads.  And  Russian  Poland's  annual  grain  defi- 
cit was  nearly  constant,  amounting  to  about  3,000,- 
000  quintals.32  Only  in  Prussian  Poland  did  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  soil  reach  a  reasonably  high 
degree  of  development.  The  average  yield  per  acre 
in  this  district  was  twice  that  of  the  other  dis- 
tricts.33 

As  to  live-stock,  the  kingdom,  that  is  former  Rus- 
sian Poland,  furnished  the  city  of  Warsaw  before 
the  war  only  5%  of  the  total  consumption  of  meat, 
the  other  95%  had  to  be  imported  from  Russia. 
Galicia  exported  some  live-stock,  but  the  export  was 
gradually  diminishing,  and  consisted  chiefly  of 
pigs.34 

This  small  productiveness  is  the  result  of  primi- 
tive agricultural  methods,  namely,  lack  of  agricul- 
tural intelligence,  inadequate  agricultural  tools  and 

10  Dr.  Gorski,  p.  33-34. 

81  Ibidem,  pp.  34-35. 

"Ibidem,  p.  31. 

33  Journal  of  Am.-Polish  Chamber  of  Com.,  Dec.,  1920,  p.  5. 

"Dr.  Gorski,  p.  31. 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  41 

machinery,  insufficient  fertilization  of  the  soil,  and: 
poor  agricultural  credit  facilities.  35 

(c)  High  taxation.— Another  cause  of  the  unsatis- 
factory economic  condition  of  the  Polish  peasantry 
has  been  high  taxation.  In  1882  the  number  of  those 
paying  land  taxes  in  Galicia  was  1,420,020 ;  by  1896 
it  rose  to  1,743,792.  This  number  included  2,978 
large  land-owners,  with  estates  of  132  acres  or  more 
(100  "morgi"),  and  1,740,814  peasants,  with  hold- 
ings averaging  less  than  six  acres  (4.2  "morgi").3* 
And  these  poor  peasants  were  the  ones  that  had  to 
bear  the  lion's  share  of  the  burden  of  taxation,  na- 
tional, provincial,  and  local.  The  same  conditions 
in  respect  of  taxation  prevailed  in  the  other  parts 
of  Poland,  modified,  of  course,  by  local  differ- 
ences. 

(d)  Lack  of  industrial  development.— From  the 
foregoing  description  of  conditions  it  is  evident  that 
the  Polish  peasant,  in  order  to  live  at  all  and  at  the 
same  time  meet  his  share  of  the  taxes  imposed  upon 
him,  had  to  supplement  the  product  of  his  small 
farm  by  outside  work.  Here,  again,  the  chances  to 
get  such  work  at  home  were  few.  The  large  estates 
employed  a  certain  number  of  peasants  in  the  cul- 
tivation of  their  land;  but  such  employment  was 
only  seasonal,  during  harvest  time  in  the  summer 
and  during  the  potato-digging  season  in  the  fall. 
During  the  long  winters  the  surplus  peasant  labor 
had  to  remain  idle ;  for  factories,  being  few,  did  not 
afford  much  or  any  opportunity  for  work.  Owing 
to  high  taxation,  national  and  local,  inadequate 
transportation  facilities,  high  cost  of  transportation, 
too  much  costly  red-tape  in  starting  any  enterprise, 
lack  of  capital,  and  the  natural  antipathy  of  the 
Polish  landed  proprietors  to  trade  and  industry, 

*Dr.  Gorski,  pp.  35,  39,  40. 
M  Dr.  L.  Caro,  p.  77. 


42  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

commerce  and  industry  have  not  been  developed 
properly  in  Poland.37 

(e)  Low  wages  and  few  working-days.— This  state 
of  affairs  was  further  aggravated  by  very  low  wages 
paid  for  farm  labor,38  and  by  .numerous  church  holi- 
days.39 In  the  seventies  of  the  last  century,  for  in- 
stance, there  were  in  34  Galician  counties  100-120 
church  holidays;  in  22  counties,  120-150;  and  in  16 
counties,  150-200;  in  the  last  case  leaving  only 
about  five  months  in  the  year  for  work.  This  surely 
afforded  the  Galician  peasant  an  inevitable  and  un- 
surpassed opportunity  for  fasting  as  well  as  for 
praying. 

Result— emigration.— In  the  light  of  this  brief  sur- 
vey of  the  economic  condition  of  the  Polish  peas- 
antry, the  Polish  peasant's  chief  motive  for  emigra- 
tion becomes  clearly  evident.  The  pressure  of  eco- 
nomic necessity  was  becoming  too  great  for  him  to 
bear  it  meekly  any  longer.  Whether  he  wanted  to, 
or  not,  he  had  to  go  in  search  of  better  working  and 
living  conditions. 

Possibilities  of  improvement,  (a)  In  agriculture. 
— All  this,  however,  does  not  mean  that  Poland  is 
unable  to  feed  and  keep  in  reasonable  comfort  her 
population.  Her  territory  has  unlimited  agricul- 
tural and  mineral  resources ;  all  that  is  necessary  is 
to  develop  them  properly.  Given  right  political  con- 
ditions and  sufficient  capital,  her  agriculture,  her  in- 
dustry, and  her  commerce  will  rise  and  flourish,  and 
her  children  will  have  enough  work  at  home  and 
bread  to  spare.  In  Galicia  alone  there  are  over 
2,200,000  acres  of  land  which  could  be  brought  under 
cultivation  by  drainage,  and  would  yield  5,000,000 
quintals  of  grain,  increasing  the  income  from  land 
by  80,000,000  francs.    Better  feeding  of  cows  and 

"T)t.  Gorski,  pp.  44-45;  cf.  also  Van  Norman,  p.  33. 
88  Dr.  Caro,  p.  78. 
39  Ibidem,  p.  78. 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  43 

increasing  the  milk  supply  by  one  liter  per  cow  daily, 
would  give  55,000,000  francs  annually.  And  by 
better  feeding  of  the  Galician  pigs  in  order  to  get 
full  price  for  them  in  the  markets  of  Vienna  or 
Prague,  10,000,000  francs  more  would  be  added  to 
the  Galician  peasants '  annual  income.  The  Galician 
emigrants  to  Germany  and  America  brought  an- 
nually before  the  war  thirty  to  forty  million  francs. 
This,  even  if  continued,  would  not  compare  with 
what  could  be  secured  right  at  home  by  better  and 
more  intensive  agriculture  alone.40 

(b)  In  industry.— Then,  too,  there  are  in  Poland 
unlimited  possibilities  along  the  line  of  industrial 
expansion.  The  Poles  realize  this  fully,  and  are 
making  every  effort  to  develop  Polish  industry.  In 
the  years  1902-10  in  Galicia  the  number  of  factory 
workers  increased  42%,  machinery,  measured  by 
horse  power,  65%,  and  the  number  of  workers  em- 
ployed in  1910  in  home-industries,  as  distinguished 
from  factory  industries,  was  97,000  persons.41  Fac- 
tories, in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term,  Galicia  num- 
bered in  1910-14,  363.  The  output  of  these  in  1908- 
1914  increased  from  300  to  500  million  francs.42 
Moreover,  in  1866  the  Galician  provincial  budget  in- 
cluded no  appropriations  for  economic  purposes,  but 
in  the  provincial  budget  of  1911  these  appropria- 
tions amounted  to  14,191,237  crowns,  or  22.39%  of 
the  general  budget,  and  occupied  the  second  place 
in  the  budget,  yielding  the  first  place  to  appropria- 
tions for  educational  purposes.43 

All  this  shows  that  more  and  more  industry  is  sup- 
plementing agriculture,  and  that  Poland  is  under- 
going a  gradual  transition  from  an  agricultural  to 
an  industrial  economy.     The  recent  war  retarded 

40  Dr.  Gorski,  pp.  35-36. 

41  Kazimierz  Bartoszewicz,  Dzieje  Galicji,  p.  195. 
"Dr.  Gorski,  p.  57. 

*■  Bartoszewicz,  p.  179. 


44  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

the  process;  but  the  new  political  status  of  Poland 
will  in  due  time  offset  the  retardation  by  accelerat- 
ing the  speed  of  the  transformation.  With  this 
change  the  economic  status  of  the  Polish  peasant 
will  improve  decidedly;  and  Polish  emigration  will 
diminish. 

SOCIAL    CONDITIONS    OF    THE    POLISH    PEASANTRY 

Polish  peasant's  education  neglected.— During  the 
nineteenth  century  the  Polish  peasants  education 
was  sadly  neglected.  His  masters,  Russians,  Prus- 
sians, and  Austrians,  the  Polish  landlords  and  the 
Polish  clergy  as  well,  were  little  concerned  about 
his  schooling.  The  less  education  he  had,  the  more 
submissive  he  would  be,  the  more  easily  ruled,  and 
the  more  easily  exploited.  In  Eussian  Poland  it 
was  a  penal  offense  before  the  war  to  teach  a  Polish 
peasant  anything  in  Polish;  and  not  only  that,  but 
to  teach  him  anything  at  all  in  any  language,  Polish 
or  Russian.  In  Prussian  Poland  he  might  be  taught, 
but  there,  again,  he  had  to  be  taught  only  in  Ger- 
man; and  what  he  learned  in  a  tongue  unfamiliar 
to  him,  as  well  as  obnoxious,  because  forced  upon 
him,  amounted  to  very  little.  In  Austrian  Poland 
attempts  were  made  to  give  him  systematic  instruc- 
tion, and  to  give  it  to  him  in  his  mother  tongue.  But 
for  several  decades  the  number  of  schools  was  in- 
adequate to  the  population,  many  village  communes 
remained  without  any  schools,  and  thousands  of 
peasant  children  were  deprived  of  educational  op- 
portunities. Even  as  late  as  the  close  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  there  were  4,117  schools,  public  and 
private,  in  Galicia,  for  6,243  school  communes,  and 
out  of  919,000  children  between  the  ages  of  six  to 
twelve  years  only  660,649  were  attending  any 
school.44  Besides,  many,  if  not  most,  of  these  schools 

**  Bartoszewicz,  p.  183;  cf.  also  Eney.  Macierzy  Szkolnej,  II,  p.  837. 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  45 

were  largely  under  the  influence  and  control  of  the 
church,  and  consequently  the  training  given  the 
children  in  them  was  intended  to  fit  them  for  the, life 
hereafter  rather  than  for  life  here  and  now.;  Mr. 
L.  E.  Van  Norman  gives  a  telling  description  of 
his  visit  to  one  such  school  for  peasant  children 
in  Galicia.  "Its  sessions  were  held  in  a  rustic  little 
one-room  building  with  the  conventional  thatched 
roof.  The  walls  of  this  room,  instead  of  being  hung 
with  geographical  maps,  charts,  and  other  educa- 
tional paraphernalia,  were  almost  literally  covered 
with  portraits  of  Kaiser  Franz  Joseph,  the  late 
Kaiserin  Elizabeth,  and  Prince  Kudolph,  and  many 
different  varieties  of  Catholic  religious  pictures. 
.  .  .  The  teacher  was  the  village  priest  who  made 
the  children  recite  the  catechism  for  my  benefit, 
which  they  did  in  the  most  sing-song  and  unintelli- 
gible fashion.  .  .  .  They  recited  also  verses  from 
the  saints,  and  then  had  some  mental  arithmetic. 
Finally,  the  prize  scholar  was  asked  where  was 
America.  He  hesitated  a  moment,  then  said  he  did 
not  know,  except  that  it  was  far-off,  and  that  it  was 
the  country  to  which  good  Polish  boys  went  when 
they  died.  At  the  close  a  number  of  small  religious 
pictures  and  prayer-books  were  distributed  to  the 
bright  boys,  and  coral  wreaths  and  rosaries  to  the 
girls. ' '  *r* 

Result— illiteracy.— It  is  not  to  be  wondered, 
therefore,  that  in  1900  the  percentage  of  illiteracy 
in  Galicia  was  52%  among  the  male  and  59.99% 
among,  the  female  population,  above  six  years  of 
age.46 

Growing  improvement  in  education.— Yet  we  must 
not  fail  to  see  the  progress  that  has  been  made 
along  the  line  of  peasant  education  in  the  last  fifty 
years,  and  to  note  what  a  free  people  under  normal 

"Poland — the  Knight  among  the  Nations,  pp.  243-244. 
"Dr.  Caro,  p.  75. 


46  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

conditions  will  do  when  it  is  free  to  act.  In  1866 
Galicia  was  granted  provincial  autonomy.  At  once 
improvements  along  almost  every  line  of  public 
betterment  were  begun,  with  education  receiving  first 
attention.  In  1868  for  6,243  school  districts,  village, 
town,  and  city,  there  were  only  2,476  elementary 
schools  of  all  kinds.  By  1898  the  number  of  elemen- 
tary public  schools  increased  to  4,117;  by  1906  to 
4,902 ;  by  1913  to  5,963 ;  and  in  1914  the  Council  of 
Public  Education  reported  only  24  communes  with- 
out an  elementary  school-commune  having  only  15-30 
children  of  school  age.47 

The  increase  in  the  enrollment  of  children  in 
these  elementary  schools  is  also  worthy  of  note.  In 
1871  the  number  of  children  in  elementary  schools 
was  156,015;  in  1898—660,649;  in  1907—953,499; 
and  in  1913—1,152,048,  with  216,778  children  in  sup- 
plementary schools,  making  a  total  of  1,368,826.48 

Besides  elementary  day  schools,  Galicia  has  been 
establishing  supplementary  industrial  and  voca- 
tional schools.  According  to  government  reports 
there  were  134  such  schools  in  the  province  in  1913 
with  a  total  attendance  in  1911-12  of  12,569  pupils.49 

Secondary  and  higher  schools  have  been  devel- 
oped with  equal  energy.  In  1868  Galicia  had  12 
gymnasia,  with  an  eight-year  course  of  study  in 
each,  7  with  a  four-year  course  in  each,  and  2  tech- 
nical preparatory  schools,  one  with  a  three-year 
course  of  study,  and  the  other  with  a  six-year  course. 
The  number  of  students  in  these  institutions  at 
that  time  was  7,905.  In  1910-11  the  number  of  pub- 
lic gymnasia  in  Galicia  was  86  and  of  technical  pre- 
paratory schools — 14,  with  a  total  attendance  of 
40,060  students.  In  addition  to  these  there  were  17 
private  gymnasia  for  men  and  13  for  women,  with 


*  Bartoszewicz,  p.  183. 
48  Ibidem,  pp.  183-184. 
"Dr.  Gorski,  p.  46. 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  47 

an  enrollment  of  4,110.  The  two  universities  of  Cra- 
cow and  Lwow  had  1,822  students  in  1880-81  and  a 
faculty  of  148  instructors,  professors,  and  lecturers. 
In  1911-12  the  enrollment  of  students  in  both  uni- 
versities was  8,088,  and  the  faculties  numbered  409 
members.50 

Education— first  concern  of  new  Poland.— More- 
over, it  is  very  gratifying  to  know  that  after  the 
reconstitution  of  new  Poland  in  1918  one  of  the 
foremost  concerns  of  the  new  Polish  Government 
was  the  reestablishment  and  reorganization  of  the 
school  system  of  the  country.  The  Poles  fully  real- 
ize that  education  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  people 
is  one  of  the  most  important  foundation  stones  of 
the  New  Eepublic.  The  effort  is  being  also  made 
to  secularize  the  Polish  schools,  to  give  the  Polish 
child  an  education  free  from  ecclesiastical  control 
and  influence,  which  will  adequately  fit  him  for  life. 

Polish  press.— A  marked  growth  is  manifest  also 
in  the  Polish  periodical  press  in  Galicia.  In  1865 
the  Polish  press  was  represented  by  14  publications, 
in  1875  by  68,  in  1901  by  237,  and  in  1914  by  342. 
Among  these  there  were  14  Polish  dailies,  published 
in  Cracow  and  Lwow,  with  a  total  circulation  of 
140  thousand.51 

Polish  organizations.— Furthermore,  the  last  fifty 
years  have  witnessed  a  remarkable  increase  in  or- 
ganizations of  various  kinds,  political,  educational, 
economic,  philanthropic,  et  cetera.  In  1874  Polish 
social  interests  and  activities  were  represented  by 
590  organizations ;  in  1900  by  5,518 ;  and  in  1912  by 
12,621.  This  last  number  included  3,956  educational 
organizations  and  libraries,  2,601  agricultural  so- 
cieties, and  1,077  industrial  and  commercial  asso- 
ciations.52 

M  Bartoszewicz,  pp.  182-183. 
M  Ibidem,  p.  196. 
M  Ibidem,  p.  196. 


48  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

Living  conditions:  (a)  Housing.— Living  condi- 
tions of  the  Polish  peasant  are  very  simple.  The 
houses  are  of  stone,  logs,  or  boards,  plastered  over 
with  mud  and  white-washed.  The  roof  is  thatched 
or  mud-covered,  and  over  the  mud  is  laid  straw, 
upon  which  often  grows  moss,  so  that  a  peasant's 
hut,  topped  off  with  green-growing  moss  is  a  fre- 
quent picturesque  addition  to  the  landscape.  The  in- 
terior of  the  house  is  often  divided  into  two  rooms, 
in  most  cases  separated  by  the  main  entrance  and 
a  hall  running  clear  across  to  the  other  side  of  the 
house.  One  of  the  rooms  constitutes  the  living, 
eating,  and  sleeping  quarters  for  the  family,  in 
many  instances  for  two  and  three  families.53  The 
other  room,  across  the  hall,  furnishes  shelter  to  the 
live-stock,  and  to  the  farm  poultry.  The  peasant 
hut,  though  humble,  is,  in  itself  and  alone,  very  pic- 
turesque. Surrounded  by  trees  and  separated  from 
neighboring  houses  by  little  kitchen  or  flower  gar- 
dens, it  far  surpasses  for  comfort  and  even  health 
many  a  shack  in  some  immigrant  sections  of  our 
American  cities.  A  Polish  village  with  its  pictur- 
esque houses  and  with  their  still  more  picturesque 
occupants,  is,  particularly  on  a  Sunday  or  holiday, 
when  the  villagers  turn  out  in  their  best,  a  sight  long 
to  be  remembered.54 

(b)  Food.— The  Polish  peasant  lives  simply.  The 
vegetables  he  raises  in  his  garden  furnish  practi- 
cally all  his  food.  Potatoes  are  his  great  staple,  but 
he  is  also  fond  of  cabbage,  beets,  and  beans,  and  he 
occasionally  grows  some  corn.  Of  the  cabbage  he 
makes  soups  and  pressed  cakes.  He  has  also  a  thick 
grain  porridge,  known  as  kasza,  and  he  especially 
likes  a  soup  made  of  red  beets  and  known  as  barszcz. 
Meat  is  very  scarce.    He  enjoys  that  delicacy  only 

"Postep,  August,  1920,  p.  176. 
NCf.  Van  Norman,  pp.  234-235. 


POLAND'S   COUNTRY   SIDE 

1.  Ploughing  with  Oxen 

2.  Farming  with  Machinery 


\  See  pa  a 


PRINCIPAL  SQUARE:   CRACOW 


A   POLISH   PEASANT   HOME 


\See  page  l*S 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  49 

in  winter  when  he  has  killed  a  pig,  or  on  holidays 
and  on  special  festive  occasions.55 

(c)  Clothing.— In  summer  the  Polish  peasant's 
clothing  consists  of  thin  shirt  and  trousers,  home- 
made, and  to  this,  in  winter,  he  adds  a  sheepskin 
coat,  with  the  fleece  turned  inside.  He  goes  bare- 
footed most  of  the  time,  and  frequently  bareheaded. 
The  gorale,  or  mountain  peasants,  of  the  Carpa- 
thians have  a  particularly  striking  dress,  and  the 
simple  yet  impressive  dignity  of  their  carriage  adds 
greatly  to  their  picturesqueness.56 

The  lot  of  the  Polish  peasant  woman.— The  lot  of 
the  Polish  peasant  woman  is  somewhat  hard  and 
monotonous,  but  not  necessarily  unhappy.  Her 
mental  development  may  not  be  of  a  very  high  order, 
yet  it  is  as  good  as  her  husband's  for  she  has  at- 
tended the  same  school  together  with  him,  and  has 
enjoyed  equal  educational  opportunities.  She  does 
a  good  deal  of  hard  work,  but  in  this  respect  she  is 
cheerfully  helping  her  husband  in  the  common  strug- 
gle for  existence.  Her  life  is  dull  and  dreary,  but 
not  any  more  so  than  her  husband's.  The  Polish 
peasant  woman,  therefore,  simply  shares  the  com- 
mon lot  of  the  social  class  to  which  she  belongs. 

Recreation.— Too  much  work  and  no  play  makes 
Jack  a  dull  boy  regardless  of  his  nationality  or 
his  social  position.  So  the  Polish  peasant,  too, 
looks  for  recreation  and  amusement,  and  finds  it 
in  frequent  informal  neighborly  visits,  village 
dances,  weddings,  christenings,  church  fairs,  and 
in  holiday  festivities  of  one  kind  or  another.  He 
loves  music  passionately,  and  delights  in  dancing 
thoroughly. 

Group  life,  national  consciousness,  patriotism.— 
Group  life  among  the  Polish  peasants  is  very  strong, 
national  consciousness  intense,  and  patriotism  very 

•  Cf .  Van  Norman,  p.  236,  and  N.  O.  Winter,  p.  266. 
w  The  same  authors,  pp.  236  and  266,  respectively. 


50  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

ardent.  Commonly  the  Poles  are  regarded  as  in- 
dividualists of  an  extreme  type.  The  fact  is  over- 
looked that  they  act  in  groups.  The  Polish  peasant 
does  whatever  the  group  does;  and  nothing  can 
move  him  as  long  as  the  group  refuses  to  act.  To 
bear  this  fact  in  mind  is  of  utmost  importance  in 
dealings  with  the  Poles,  especially  in  social  and 
religious  work  among  the  Polish  immigrants  in  this 
country.  No  enterprise  of  any  kind  may  reason- 
ably look  for  success  among  them  unless  it  takes 
their  group-life  into  account,  and  tries  to  make  a 
successful  appeal  to  the  group. 

Owing  to  the  determined  efforts  of  Poland's  par- 
titioners  to  denationalize  the  Poles  and  to  stamp  out 
their  language,  the  Polish  peasant's  national  con- 
sciousness and  patriotism  have  been  developed  to  a 
high  degree;  and  therefore  he  clings  to  his  tradi- 
tions and  to  his  language  tenaciously.  In  the  period 
of  dismemberment  the  Poles  found  their  native 
tongue  the  strongest  bond  of  union.  The  Polish 
peasant,  says  Van  Norman,  is  patriotism  personi- 
fied. He  has  responded  nobly  to  every  call  of  his 
country  in  her  hour  of  need.  In  the  Kosciuszko  in- 
surrection he  cheerfully  left  his  field,  and,  armed 
only  with  his  scythe,  he  went  forth  to  battle.  He 
has  been  as  responsive  ever  since.  He  is  the  most 
common-sense,  practical  peasant  in  the  world.  He 
is  also  self-respecting,  independent,  strong,  and 
usually  moral,  temperate,  and  cheerful.  He  is  the 
hope  of  his  nation.  The  regeneration  and  progress 
of  the  nation,  political,  social,  or  religious,  must 
come  from  the  peasant.57  So  it  is.  The  Polish 
peasant  is  determining  today  Poland's  future.  He 
holds  the  balance  of  power  in  the  Polish  Diet  today ; 
and  one  of  the  recent  Premiers  of  Poland,  Witos, 
was  a  peasant. 

w  Poland — The  Knight  among  the  Nations,  p.  233. 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  51 


BELIGIOUS   CONDITIONS  IN   POLAND 

The  development  of  Christianity  in  Poland.— 
Christianity  in  its  western  form  was  introduced  into 
Poland  in  966  by  Poland's  first  historical  ruler, 
Mieszko  I  (960-992).  His  motive  for  the  accept- 
ance of  Christianity  and  for  its  introduction  into 
his  dominions  was  a  desire  to  save  his  country  from 
devastating  German  wars,  carried  on  under  the 
guise  of  Christianizing  the  pagan  Slavs.  The  first 
bishopric  was  established  by  the  same  ruler  in  968 
in  Poznzn.  The  Archbishopric  of  Gniezno  was 
founded  about  the  year  1000  by  Boleslaw  I  the 
Brave,  992-1025,  with  the  consent  of  the  German 
Emperor  Otto  III.  This  step  made  Poland  inde- 
pendent of  Germany  ecclesiastically.  At  the  same 
time  a  number  of  new  bishoprics  were  established 
in  newly  conquered  territories;  at  Colberg  in  Pom- 
erania,  at  Cracow  in  Little  Poland,  and  at  Breslau 
in  Silesia.  Monastic  Orders  were  invited  to  settle  in 
Poland,  and  were  given  large  grants  of  land  to- 
gether with  special  privileges.  With  the  assistance 
of  the  political  power  Christianity  spread  through- 
out Poland  very  rapidly,  and  the  influence  of  the 
Church  and  its  clergy  soon  made  itself  felt  in  the 
State.  By  1180  the  higher  clergy  were  invited  to 
participate  in  the  King's  Council;  and  by  1206,  ow- 
ing to  the  adoption  of  the  Gregorian  reforms  in  Po- 
land, the  nomination  of  bishops,  heretofore  a  pre- 
rogative of  the  Polish  kings,  passed  over  to  the 
Pope.  The  Church  was  now  supreme  in  Poland, — 
a  supremacy  which  it  enjoyed  and  made  full  use  of 
for  over  two  centuries  and  a  half,  until  the  reign  of 
Kazimir  IV  Jagielloiiczyk  (1447-1492),  when  the 
right  of  episcopal  nominations  was  regained  by 
Kazimir,  and  henceforth  remained  a  prerogative  of 
the  Polish  Crown. 

U.  OF  ILL  LIB. 


52  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

Hussitism  in  Poland.— The  Hussite  movement, 
which  in  the  fifteenth  century  kept  Bohemia  in  com- 
motion, found  its  way  also  to  Poland.  The  Polish 
clergy  was  at  the  height  of  its  power  and  its  preten- 
sions. As  a  consequence  the  Polish  nobility  was 
irritated,  indignant,  and  jealous.  Moreover,  the 
Poles  had  had  enough  of  Germany.  Hussitism, 
therefore,  both  as  a  religion  and  as  a  nationalistic 
movement  appealed  to  the  Poles  and  was  welcomed 
by  them.  Many  wealthy  and  influential  families, 
especially  in  Great  Poland,  became  its  adherents 
and  sympathizers.  With  the  defeat  of  the  Hus- 
sites in  Bohemia,  the  movement  was  suppressed  in 
Poland  for  a  time.  But  in  the  sixteenth  century,  un- 
der the  influence  of  the  Reformation,  it  revived 
again,  and  its  adherents  were  known  then  as  the 
Bohemian  Brethren. 

The  Eeformation  found  in  Poland  a  fertile,  but 
rather  rocky  soil  without  depth.  Its  ideas  struck 
root  quickly,  but  not  deeply.  They  found  ready  ac- 
ceptance with  the  city  population  and  with  the  no- 
bility, the  upper  crust  of  society,  but  failed  to  pene- 
trate into  the  lower  social  strata,  the  depths  of  the 
peasantry.  The  movement,  therefore,  was  doomed 
to  a  short  life  from  the  start.  For  a  time,  how- 
ever, the  Reformation  was  very  popular  with  the 
upper  classes ;  in  fact  so  popular  that  all  kinds  and 
shades  of  religious  reformers  found  refuge  and  wel- 
come in  the  country.  Most  influential  were  Luther- 
anism,  Calvinism,  and  Antitrinitarianism.  Drawing 
its  inspiration  from  the  Reformation,  there  sprang 
up  also  a  short-lived  movement  tending  in  the  di- 
rection of  a  National  Church.  But  as  in  the  fifteenth 
century  in  the  case  of  Hussitism,  so  now  again  in 
the  case  of  the  Reformation  the  Catholic  reaction- 
aries, under  the  leadership  of  the  Jesuits,  and  sup- 
ported by  reactionary  kings,  succeeded  in  getting 
the  upper  hand,  checked  the  movement,  and  in  the 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND  53 

course  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries 
well-nigh  exterminated  it. 

Relative  strength  of  religious  faiths  in  Poland.— 
The  relative  strength  of  existing  faiths  in  Poland 
in  1791,  just  before  the  second  partition,  was  as 
follows : — 

Eoman  Catholics   53.2% 

Uniates    29.2% 

Disuniates    3.2% 

Hebrews    10.5% 

Protestants    1.7% 

Dissidents  from  the  Kussian  Orthodox  Church 1.1% 

Arminians   0.5% 

Mohammedans    0.6% M 

These  relative  proportions  have  been  consider- 
ably modified  in  the  course  of  a  century  and  a  quar- 
ter. The  Protestants  have  evidently  grown  in 
strength;  for  they  are  now  estimated  to  form  6.6% 
of  the  total  population.59  Nevertheless  the  old  sta- 
tistics are  still  fairly  indicative  of  the  relative- 
strength  of  the  different  religious  faiths  in  Poland 
today.  The  Catholics,  Roman,  Greek,  Uniate,  about 
79.4%  strong,  are  greatly  in  the  lead;  next  come  the 
Jews,  about  12%  strong;  then — the  Protestants, 
numbering  6.6% ;  finally — the  Russian  Dissidents, 
Armenians,  and  Mohammedans  making  up  2%. 

The  attitude  of  the  Polish  people  toward  institu- 
tional religion.— The  attitude  of  the  Polish  people 
toward  institutional  religion  is  of  interest.  The 
chief  emphasis  placed  by  both  Catholics  and  Prot- 
estants on  dogma  and  ritual  rather  than  on  life  has 
resulted  in  estrangement  of  the  educated  classes 
from  the  Church  and  in  blind  superstitious  devo- 
tion of  the  masses.  It  is  fair  to  say  that  the  edu- 
cated Poles,  whether  Catholic  or  Protestant,  are 

58  Tadeusz  Korzon,  Wewnetozne  Dzieje  Polski,  I,  Table  attached  to» 
p.  320. 

"Jakob  Glass,  Ewangelicy  Polacy,  pp.  8-12.  The  Centenary  Bul- 
letin, M.  E.,  Nashville,  October,  1920,  p.  2. 


64,  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

largely  indifferent  to  the  Church.  They  regard 
themselves  as  having  outgrown  religion,  and  conse- 
quently do  not  care  to  bother  about  it  any  more. 
Especially  is  this  true  of  those  brought  up  in 
Catholicism;  less  true  of  those  brought  up  in 
Protestantism. 

With  the  masses  the  case  is  quite  different.  The 
vital,  characteristic  fact  of  the  Polish  peasant's  life 
is  his  religion.  He  is  perhaps  the  most  devout  peas- 
ant in  the  world,  and,  beyond  a  doubt,  is  the  most 
faithful  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  superstitious  of 
all  the  adherents  of  the  Church  of  Eome.  Most  of 
the  legends  and  general  folk-lore  of  the  peasant  are 
religious  in  character,  having  their  origin  in  his  love 
and  reverence  for  the  Blessed  Virgin.  "Matka 
Boska,"  the  Mother  of  God,  as  the  peasants  affec- 
tionately call  her,  is  the  ideal  of  all  that  is  beautiful, 
,the  refuge,  the  protector,  the  constant  intercessor 
of  the  sinful  and  the  oppressed,  and  the  Queen  of 
the  Polish  nation.  The  Polish  priest  is  identified 
with  every  phase  of  the  peasant  life,  and  there  are 
no  festivities  in  which  he  does  not  take  a  part.  He 
is  looked  up  to  as  the  guide  and  guardian  of  his 
flock,  and  is  regarded  and  treated  with  utmost  defer- 
ence by  his  parishioners.  It  cannot  be  said  that  in 
his  personal  life  he  always  sets  an  ideal  example.60 

The  average  Protestant  Pole  lacks  none  of  his 
Catholic  brother's  religious  fervor  and  devotion, 
while  his  religion  is  of  a  higher  order,  less  super- 
stitious, more  intelligent,  and  more  spiritual. 

Poland'o  roligiono  noodG. — The  most  imperative 
religiouo  needs  of  tho  Poland  of  today  are :  separa- 
tioa--e£--Ghurcli  and  B ULc,  liberation  of  the  aoul  of* 
the- Polialr  people  fioin  the  domination  of  medieval 
Tgligious.  conooptiono  and  oupcrstilions,  rcvitaligq- 
tion  and-epiritualiaation  of.  Poland  'a  religious  life. 

MSee  Van  Norman,  p.  245,  and  Winter,  p.  276. 


CHAPTER  II:   POLISH  IMMIGRATION  TO  THE 
UNITED  STATES  AND  ITS  DISTRIBUTION 


Chapter  II 

POLISH  IMMIGRATION  TO  THE  UNITED 
STATES  AND  ITS  DISTRIBUTION 

History  of  Polish  immigration,  (a)  Early  immi- 
gration.—Polish  immigration  to  the  United  States 
dates  as  far  back  as  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  when  the  Zborowski,  or  Zabrisky,  family 
came  to  this  country,  and  settled  near  Hackensack, 
N.  J.  Martin  Zborowski,  a  lawyer  by  profession, 
made  a  big  fortune  in  real  estate,  which  in  1878  he 
left  to  his  son,  William  Elliot  Zborowski.  William 
Elliot  married  Carey's  daughter,  whose  mother  was 
an  Astor,  and,  dying  accidentally  in  1903,  he  left  a 
fortune  of  $10,000,000.  William  Elliot's  sister, 
Anna,  married  Baron  Fontenoy.  The  Zborowskis 
are  the  oldest  Polish  family  in  the  United  States.1 

Other  Poles  soon  followed.  According  to  Father 
J.  Conway,  "as  early  as  1659  the  Dutch  colonists  of 
Manhattan  Island  hired  a  Polish  schoolmaster  for 
the  education  of  the  youth  of  the  community. ' ' 2 
During  the  Revolutionary  War  came  the  well-known 
patriots,  Kosciuszko  and  Pulaski;  after  the  war 
came  the  writer  and  poet,  Niemcewicz;  and  later — 
Prince  Dimitrius  A.  Galiczyn,  who,  assuming  the 
name  of  John  Smith,  entered  the  priesthood,  was 
consecrated  by  Bishop  Carroll,  of  Baltimore,  March 
16th,  1795,  and  settled  in  the  parish  of  "Bohemia 
Manor,' '  Cecil  Co.,  Maryland.3  The  unsuccessful 
insurrection  of  1830-31  led  many  Poles  by  way  of 

*Rev.  Waclaw  Kruszka,  Hist.  Polska  w  Ameryce,  I,  pp.  53-54. 
'Ibidem,  I,  p.  53. 
■Ibidem,  I,  pp.  63-64. 

57 


58  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

France  and  England  to  seek  refuge  in  this  country. 
The  same  thing  happened  in  1848  and  in  1863.  In 
1854  under  the  leadership  of  Father  Leopold  Moczy- 
gemba  a  number  of  peasant  families  from  Upper 
Silesia  came  and  settled  in  Texas,  at  a  place  which 
they  named  "Panna  Marya" — that  is,  Virgin 
Mary.4 

(b)  Later  immigration.— Polish  immigration  to 
the  United  States  on  a  large  scale,  however,  does 
not  begin  until  in  the  seventies  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  following  the  Franco-Prussian  War.  Its 
original  source  was  Prussian  Poland — Upper  Silesia, 
Poznania,  and  West  Prussia.  Beginning  somewhat 
slowly  at  first  in  the  seventies  the  stream  of  Polish 
immigration  swelled  and  spread  to  such  proportions 
as  to  sweep  away  with  it  not  only  the  natural  in- 
crease of  the  peasant  population,  but  also  a  portion 
of  the  normal  population  of  these  provinces.  So 
that  in  the  next  decade,  1882-1895,  in  Poznania  and 
in  West  Prussia,  the  normal  population  was  actually 
reduced  by  41,000.5  From  Prussian  Poland  the  emi- 
gration movement  spread  gradually  to  Russian  Po- 
land, and  thence  to  Galicia.  Polish  emigration 
from  Galicia  does  not  assume  any  considerable  pro- 
portions until  the  nineties  of  the  last  century. 

Volume  of  Polish  immigration.— The  volume  of 
Polish  immigration  was  greatest  in  the  decade  and 
a  half  preceding  the  World  War.  In  1901-1910  the 
number  of  Polish  immigrants  to  the  United  States 
was  873,669.  For  the  period  1904-1913  it  was 
1,009,054.  The  year  1912-13  was  the  banner  year, 
bringing  174,365  Polish  immigrants.  The  year  1914 
yielded  122,657,  and  the  year  1915  only  9,065.6 

*Kruszka,  I,  pp.  71,  75;  Emily  Balch,  Our  Slavic  Fellow  Citi- 
zens, p.  228. 

5  Okolowicz,  Wychodztwo  polskie,  p.  23. 

•Ibidem,  pp.  21-25;  Dr.  Caro,  p.  34;  Report  of  Com.  Gen.  of 
Immig.,  1912-13. 


POLISH  IMMIGRATION  TO  UNITED  STATES     59 

General  causes  of  Polish  immigration.— The  gen- 
eral causes  of  Polish  immigration  to  the  United 
States,  according  to  Mr.  Joseph  Okolowicz  and 
Prof.  L.  Caro,  both  of  whom  are  first-class  authori- 
ties on  this  particular  subject,  are  (1)  overpopula- 
tion of  the  Polish  village  by  an  agricultural  prole- 
tariat or  semi-proletariat;  (2)  small  landholdings, 
primitive  agricultural  methods,  and  meager  pro- 
ductivity of  the  soil;  (3)  insufficient  industrial  devel- 
opment; (4)  low  wages;  (5)  excessive  taxation;  (6) 
alcoholism  and  petty  litigations;  (7)  land-hunger 
and  the  difficulty  to  satisfy  it  at  home;  and  (8)  emi- 
gration propaganda  carried  on  by  agents  of  steam- 
ship companies,  by  representatives  of  foreign  gov- 
ernments and  corporations,  and  by  lucky  emigrants 
themselves. 

Special  causes.— Besides  these  general  causes  of 
Polish  emigration  to  the  United  States,  there  were 
special,  immediate  causes  operating  in  each  section 
of  the  country.  For  instance,  the  immediate  causes 
of  Polish  emigration  from  Prussian  Poland  in  the 
seventies  and  eighties  were  greater  economic  back- 
wardness of  the  country  at  that  time,  intelligence 
due  to  better  common  school  education,  linguistic 
and  religious  persecution  resulting  from  Bismarck's 
"Kultur-kampf "  policy,  and  the  contagious  influ- 
ence of  German  emigration.  Polish  emigration  from 
Kussian  Poland  began  in  18£6.  The  immediate 
causes  back  of  it  were  a  crop  failure,  a  crisis  and 
lockout  in  the  textile  industry,  throwing  hundreds 
of  men  out  of  work,  and  the  introduction  of  univer- 
sal military  service,  in  that  year.7  Polish  emigra- 
tion from  Galicia  seems  to  have  been  due  largely  to 
the  operation  of  the  more  general  causes  and  eco- 
nomic conditions  enumerated  in  the  above  sec- 
tion. 

*  Okolowicz,  pp.   22-23 ;    see  also  Hourwich,  Immigration,  pp.   14, 
190. 


60  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

Character  of  Polish  immigration.— The  character 
of  Polish  immigration  may  be  determined  by  the 
following  statistical  facts.  The  Polish  emigrants 
leaving  Russian  Poland  in  1912  with  the  intention 
of  establishing  permanent  homes  abroad  were  di- 
vided as  to  (1)  social  classes:  landless  peasants 
50.7%,  landed  peasants  27.1%,  factory  workmen 
3.3%,  other  occupations  18.9%;  (2)  literacy:  unable 
to  read  or  write:  men  17.95%,  women  11.66%,  total 
29.61%  ;  (3)  occupations :  farm  laborers  47.15%,  un- 
skilled laborers  28.41%,  without  occupation  to  in- 
clude women  and  children  18.55%,  skilled  workmen 
5.35%,  professional,  literary,  and  business  0.54% ; 
(4)  sex:  men  66.3%,  women  33.7%;  (5)  family  re- 
lationship: single  individuals  47%,  married  35.6%, 
children  17.4% ;  (6)  religion:  Catholics  76.1%,  Jews 
15.3%,  Orthodox  3%,  and  Protestants  5.6 %.8  Ac- 
cording to  the  findings  of  the  American  Immigra- 
tion Commission  the  percentage  of  illiteracy  among 
the  Poles  of  both  sexes  is  only  24.5% ;  in  respect  of 
occupations  in  this  country  they  are  divided  as  fol- 
lows: farmers  5.7%,  business,  professional,  and 
clerical  8.7%,  skilled  trades  5.1%,  mine,  mill,  and 
factory  workers  23.2%,  laborers,  not  on  farms 
29.1%,  all  others  28.2%;  and  77%  of  the  married 
Poles  have  their  wives  in  this  country,  over  against 
23%  whose  wives  are  abroad.9  This  last  fact  is  an 
evidence  that  the  Poles  constitute  a  permanent  fac- 
tor of  our  population,  and  possess  qualities  of  value 
to  any  community.  They  are  not  transient  squat- 
ters, but  come  with  the  expectation,  hope,  and  pur- 
pose of  making  permanent  homes."  10  The  perma- 
nent character  of  Polish  immigrants  to  the  TJ.  S.  is 
further  shown  by  statistics  of  visits  made  abroad 

8Okolowicz,  pp.  28,  32,  33-34;   Beport  of  Com.  Gen.  of  Immig., 
1912-13. 

•Jenks  and  Lauck,  Immigration,  pp.  417,  433;  Hourwich,  p.  171. 
10Baleh,  pp.  473-74;  Winter,  p.  325. 


POLISH  IMMIGRATION  TO  UNITED  STATES    61 

by  foreign-born  employes  in  iron  and  steel  mills. 
Of  the  Slovaks  21.4%  make  such  visits  home;  of  the 
Hungarians — 20.3%;  of  the  Russians — 10.2%;  of 
the  Bohemians  and  Moravians — 8.5% ;  and  of  the 
Poles  only  6.6%. 1X  As  workers  the  Polish  immi- 
grants are  both  capable  and  industrious.  T)f  Polish 
adult  male  clothing  workers,  18  years  of  age  and 
over,  residing  in  the  United  States  less  than  five 
years,  37.4%  are  reported  by  the  Immigration  Com- 
mission as  having  made  less  than  $10  per  week, 
54.1%  between  $10  to  $15  per  week,  and  8.5%— $15 
and  over,  whereas  of  German  clothing  workers  40% 
averaged  less  than  $10  per  week,  51.4% — $10  to  $15 
per  week,  and  8.6% — $15  and  over,  or,  even  in  this 
last  instance,  only  one-tenth  of  one  per  cent  of  Ger- 
man clothing  workers  as  compared  with  Polish 
clothing  workers  averaged  the  highest  wage.  The 
same  is  true  of  Polish  women  and  girls  in  the  same 
industry.  The  majority  of  them  (55.4%)  earned 
more  than  $7.50  per  week,  while  the  majority  of 
American  women  of  native  parentage  (57.2%) 
earned  less  than  that  amount.  Polish  girls,  between 
the  ages  of  14  and  18,  earned  on  an  average  $5.25 
per  week,  whereas  native  American  girls  of  native 
parentage  made  only  $5.02  per  week.12  These  wages 
were,  of  course,  pre-war  wages.  The  Polish  immi- 
grant, therefore,  taking  him  all  around,  is  not  half  J 
as  bad  as  he  is  sometimes  imagined  and  represented  Jf^ 
to  be. 

Distribution  and  location  of  Polish  immigrants.— 
According  to  the  Polish  National  Alliance  Calendar 
for  1910,  there  were  approximately  3,063,000  Poles 
in  the  United  States  at  that  time,  and  their  distri- 
bution was  as  follows: 

nHourwich,  p.  75. 

a  Ibidem,  pp.  370-371;  Immig.  Com.  Reports,  II,  pp.  293,  301. 


62  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

Total  No.  of 

Population  Poles  ercentage 

Pennsylvania     6,302,115  500,000  8. 

New  York    7,268,894  475,000  6.5 

Illinois    4,821,550  475,000  9.5 

—-Wisconsin     2,069,042  250,000  12. 

v— Michigan    2,420,982  240,000  10. 

~— Massachusetts     2,805,346  240,000  8.75 

Ohio     4,157,515  200,000  5. 

New  Jersey   1,883,669  120,000  6. 

Minnesota     1,751,394  120,000  6. 

^-Connecticut     908,420  120,000  13. 

Indiana     2,516,462  50,000  2.5 

Missouri     3,106,665  40,000  1.5 

Maryland     1,188,044  30,000  2.5 

Nebraska    1,066,300  25,000  2. 

Texas    3,048,710  25,000  0.8 

Rhode   Island    428,556  25,000  5. 

-—Delaware    184,735  20,000  11. 

Maine     694,466  20,000  3. 

West   Virginia    958,800  15,000  1.5 

Washington     518,103  12,000  2. 

California    1.485,053  15,000  1. 

New   Hampshire    '411,588  12,000  2.5 

•^North  Dakota 319.146  12,000  6. 

Kansas    1,470,495  12,000  0.8 

Other   States    10,000  — 

Total 3,063,000 

These  figures,  however,  are  very  conservative  and 
unquestionably  below  the  actual  numbers  of  Poles 
in  the  given  States,  particularly  some  of  them.  ^The 
American  Association  of  Foreign-Language  News- 
papers in  its  statistical  report  of  1919  estimates  the 
number  of  Poles  in  the  United  States  at  3,595,000; 
and  the  Polish  Press,  as  early  as  1908,  estimated 
that  there  were  about  4,000,000  Poles  in  the  United 
States  at  that  time.  The  estimate  of  the  American 
Association  of  Foreign  Language  Newspapers  is 
probably  nearest  the  actual  fact.13 

The  above  table  makes  it  clear  that  the  North 
Atlantic  States  and  the  States  around  the  Great 

13  Statistical  Eeport,  August,  1919,  cited  by  Okolowicz,  p.  36;  Dr. 
Caro,  p.  115;  Note  1,  and  Statistical  Table,  pp.  117-118;  Archibald 
McClure,  Leadership  of  the  New  America,  p.  69. 


POLISH  IMMIGRATION  TO  UNITED  STATES     63 

Lakes  constitute  the  region  in  which  the  Poles  have 
largely  settled.  This  has  been  due  to  the  industrial 
development  of  these  states,  favorable  agricultural 
conditions,  especially  in  such  states  as  Wisconsin 
and  Minnesota,  and  to  the  prevailing  climate 
throughout  this  region. 

Of  the  large  cities  the  following  are  the  great 
Polish  centers:  Chicago  400,000;  Detroit  100,000 
Milwaukee  100,000 ;  Buffalo  100,000 ;  Toledo  30,000 
Cleveland  50,000;  Pittsburgh  and  vicinity  200,000 
New  York  200,000;  Philadelphia  50,000;  Baltimore 
35,000 ;  and  Boston  25,000. 

Migration  of  Poles  in  the  United  States.— The 
Polish  immigrants  constitute  a  reasonably  stable  ele- 
ment in  the  population  of  a  community.  "They  are 
not  transient  squatters, ' '  says  the  Boston  Transcript, 
"but  come  with  the  expectation,  hope,  and  purpose 
of  making  permanent  homes."  14  To  be  sure,  there 
is  some  migration  incidental  to  changing  industrial 
conditions  and  to  the  natural  human  desire  of  seeing 
the  country.  In  such  cases,  however,  the  first  ones 
to  move  on  are  the  single  individuals  and  the  mar- 
ried men  whose  families  are  abroad.  The  men  with 
families  usually  stay,  unless  absolutely  forced  by 
prolonged  local  unemployment  to  make  a  change. 
The  Polish  immigrant  has  no  Bohemian  habits;  he 
does  not  fancy  moving  from  place  to  place  all  the 
time.  He  likes  to  settle  down  and  stay.  This  state- 
ment finds  support  also  in  the  discovery  made  by 
the  Eoosevelt  Immigration  Commission  that  over 
three-fourths  of  newly  arrived  immigrants,  includ- 
ing the  Poles,  have  spent  the  entire  period  of  their 
residence  since  their  arrival  in  the  United  States 
in  the  neighborhood  of  where  they  now  live.15  Po- 
lish settlements,  therefore,  do  not  fluctuate ;  they  are 

"August  4,  1909. 

18  Jenks  and  Lauck,  Immigration,  p.  127. 


64  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

reasonably  stable  and  growing.  And  the  majority 
of  the  Poles  own  their  homes. 

Return  movement.— During  the  last  two  years, 
since  the  restoration  of  Poland  as  an  independent 
state,  there  has  been,  to  be  sure,  a  good  deal  of  rest- 
lessness among  the  Polish  immigrants  in  this  coun- 
try, and  quite  a  strong  tendency  toward  re-emigra- 
tion to  Poland.  Thousands  have  been  planning  to 
return,  and  thousands  have  actually  returned.  From 
June,  1918,  to  June,  1920,  365,367  aliens  left  Amer- 
ica for  Europe,  among  whom  were  18,545  Poles. 
(From  January  to  March,  1920,  the  number  of  aliens 
emigrating  from  America  was  61,000,  the  majority 
of  whom  were  Czechoslovaks  and  Poles.)  16  It  is 
not  likely,  however,  that  this  return  movement 
among  the  Poles  will  assume  large  proportions. 
Many  will  be  held  back  by  ties,  either  economic  or 
social.  Of  the  re-emigrants  many  have  gone  be- 
cause of  family  or  business  reasons;  others  from 
motives  of  sentiment  and  patriotism.  But  many  of 
those  that  have  gone  over  have  already  signified 
their  desire  to  return  to  America.17  Indications  are 
that  the  Polish  re-emigration  movement  has  already 
spent  its  force.  It  is  fair  to  conclude  that  economic 
and  social  causes  will,  as  usual,  operate  powerfully 
to  hold  the  majority  of  the  Poles  here  to  their  re- 
spective places. 

Prospect  for  new  immigration.— As  to  fresh  im- 
migration from  Poland,  it  is  doubtful  that  this  will 
be  very  large  in  the  future.  For  the  next  few  years, 
before  Poland  is  able  to  reorganize  and  rebuild  its 
economic  life,  many  will,  probably,  seek  refuge  and 
opportunity  in  this  country.  But  as  Poland's  eco- 
nomic life  becomes  reconstructed,  Polish  immigra- 
tion will  gradually  diminish.  According  to  some  re- 
ports Polish  emigrants  to  America  are  pouring  into 

M "Foreign-Born,"  for  May,  1920,  p.  22. 
""Codz.  Kurjer  Narodowy,"  for  October,  1920. 


POLISH  IMMIGRATION  TO  UNITED  STATES    65 

Danzig  at  the  rate  of  250  families,  or  1,000  souls, 
daily.  That  the  movement  is  gaining  volume,  there 
seems  to  be  no  doubt.  To  house  the  steady  stream  of 
emigrants  while  waiting  for  steamers,  the  Danzig 
authorities  have  long  since  established  an  embarka- 
tion camp  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city  with  accom- 
modations for  4,000.  The  new  flood  of  refugees  flee- 
ing before  the  Bolshevist  invasion  filled  this  to  over- 
flowing in  a  trice.  A  second  camp,  housing  2,000, 
was  opened  and  as  quickly  filled.  A  third  camp  is 
being  opened  in  the  old  quarantine  barracks.  And 
seeing  no  prospect  of  the  cessation  of  emigration, 
the  authorities  are  casting  about  for  still  further  ac- 
commodations.18 However,  95%  of  the  present  emi- 
gration from  Poland  is  Jewish  rather  than  Polish.19 
This  small  percentage  of  native  Poles  among  the 
present  emigrants  from  Poland  to  America  is  rather 
significant  and  doubtless  indicative  of  the  future, 

M"  Foreign-Bom/ '  September-October,  1920,  p.  14. 
""Codz.  Kurjer  Ludowy,"  for  October,  1920. 


CHAPTER  III :  ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS  OF  PO- 
LISH IMMIGRANTS  IN  THE  UNITED 
STATES 


Chapter  in 

ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS  OF  POLISH  IMMI- 
GEANTS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Means  of  livelihood.— As  has  been  previously  in- 
dicated, the  majority  of  Polish  immigrants  to  this 
country  belong  to  the  class  of  unskilled  labor. 
According  to  the  findings  of  the  Immigration 
Commission,  6.4%  are  in  the  trades,  3.8%  in  domes- 
tic and  personal  service,  and  the  rest  in  unskilled 
labor.1  However,  the  Poles  are  not  afraid  of  work ; 
they  know  how  to  apply  themselves,  and  they  do  it 
with  determination  and  endurance.  They  are  found 
in  nearly  every  industry  of  importance,  in  mining, 
steel  and  glass  industries,  textile  mills,  boots  and 
shoes  and  clothing  manufacturing,  stock-yards  and 
packing  houses,  agricultural  implement  and  vehicle 
establishments,  automobile  shops,  furniture  facto- 
ries, wire  works,  oil  and  sugar  refineries,  and  in 
agriculture.2 

Wages.— The  wages  of  the  Polish  immigrants 
have,  more  or  less,  been  the  prevailing  wages  in 
given  industries  at  a  given  time.  In  this  connection 
it  is  of  great  interest  to  see  the  weekly  and  yearly 
earnings  of  native  and  foreign-born  workers  in  a 
number  of  leading  industries,  before  the  War,  and 
to  note  the  relative  differences.  As  in  these  indus- 
tries Poles  are  found  in  considerable  numbers,  the 
schedules  represent  their  pre-war  wages  in  those 
industries. 

1  Jenks  and  Lauck,  p.  124. 
"Ibidem,  p.  139;  Balch,  pp.  282-3. 

69 


70 


THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 


AVERAGE  AMOUNT  OF  WEEKLY  EARNINGS  OF  MALE 
EMPLOYEES,  18  YEARS  AND  OVER3 

Native-Born 
Native        Foreign      Foreign- 
Industry  Father         Father  Born 

Agricultural  Implements  and  Vehicles.  .$13.23  $13.62  $12.89 

Boots    and    Shoes 12.57  12.84  11.19 

Clothing    14.59  15.66  12.91 

Cotton  Goods   11.60  10.45  9.28 

Furniture    11.43  12.31  11.58 

Glass  Industry— Bottles  16.87  19.54  12.63 

Iron  and  Steel   16.54  16.62  13.29 

Leather    11.02  12.15  10.27 

Oil  Refining   14.83  13.67  13.71 

Sugar  Refining    13.42  13.12  11.64 

Woolen  and  Worsted  Goods 11.62  11.74  9.96 

AVERAGE  AMOUNT    OF  WEEKLY   EARNINGS   OF  FEMALE 
EMPLOYEES,  1£  YEARS  AND  OVER3 

Native-Born 
Native         Foreign      Foreign- 
Industry  Father  Father  Born 

Agricultural  Implements  and  Vehicles. .  $7.13  $7.26  $7.12 

Boots  and  Shoes   7.98  8.60  7.89 

Clothing    7.41  8.60  7.74 

Collars,  Cuffs  and  Shirts 7.47  7.78  7.77 

Cotton   Goods    8.34  7.96  7.93 

Glass  Tableware    5.61  5.71  5.14 

Leather    7.13  7.39  6.39 

Woolen  and  Worsted  Goods 8.35  8.61  7.96 

Gloves     6.37  6.88  6.55 

The  average  pre-war  yearly  earnings  of  the  na- 
tive-born, investigated  by  the  Immigration  Commis- 
sion, were  $533;  of  the  foreign-born — $385;  while 
of  the  native-born  of  foreign  fathers  they  were  $526. 
This  shows  that,  while  the  difference  in  the  annual 
earnings  of  the  native-born  and  the  foreign-born  is 
considerable,  the  earnings  of  the  native-born  of  for- 
eign fathers  are  nearly  on  a  par  with  the  earnings 
of  the  native-born  of  native  fathers.  In  other  words, 
the  second  generation  of  the  immigrants  rises  to  the 
productive  level  of  native  Americans.  Of  the  more 
recent  immigrants  the  average  annual  earnings  Were 

8  Jenks  and  Lauck,  pp.  147,  149. 


ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS  OF  IMMIGRANTS    71 

as  follows :  Of  the  North  Italians  $425,  of  the  South 
Italians  $368,  of  the  Poles  $365,  of  the  Servians 
$325,  and  of  the  Syrians  $321.  And  the  average  an- 
nual earnings  of  Polish  women  were  $200.4  The 
Poles,  then,  occupy  a  middle  position  among  the 
newer  groups  of  immigrants  with  reference  to  earn- 
ing capacity. 

Other  sources  of  income.— That  the  pre-war  aver- 
age annual  earnings  of  the  representatives  of  Po- 
lish families  were  inadequate  for  family  support  re- 
quires no  proof.  That  the  earnings  of  the  father 
had  to  be  suplemented  by  additional  earnings  of 
the  mother,  or  of  the  children,  or  of  both,  is  plainly 
evident.  Thus  we  find  in  the  Keport  of  the  Immi- 
gration Commission  that  of  the  Polish  households 
studied  35.8%  of  families  had  their  entire  income 
from  husband;  8.5%  from  husband  and  children; 
13.2%  from  unspecified  sources;  and  37.7%  from 
husband  and  boarders  and  lodgers.5 

Polish  women  in  industry.— Owing  to  this  condi- 
tion, large  numbers  of  Polish  women  and  girls  are 
found  in  various  industries  such  as  textile  mills, 
clothing  factories,  cigar  factories,  packing  houses, 
and  canneries.  The  Polish  women  enjoy  the  same 
reputation  that  the  Polish  men  have  for  willingness 
to  work  hard.  A  determination  to  work  and  earn 
and  save  is  uppermost  with  them.  Marriage  is  not 
suffered  to  be  a  bar  to  work.  They  have,  therefore, 
made  their  way  into  a  wide  circle  of  industries ;  and 
in  some  of  these,  as  we  have  seen,  they  have  been 
making  fairly  good  wages.6 

Standard  of  living  of  Polish  industrial  workers.— 
The  Poles,  together  with  other  recent  immigrants, 
are  frequently  blamed  for  their  low  standard  of  liv- 
ing.   It  is  forgotten  that  their  low  standard  of  living 

4Jenks  and  Lauck,  pp.  126,  127. 

6  Ibidem,  p.  160. 

eC£.  Balch,  pp.  354,  355-357. 


72  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

is  imposed  upon  them  rather  than  of  their  own 
choosing,  and  that  it  is  not  a  permanent,  but  only  a 
temporary  characteristic.  A  new  immigrant  in  a 
strange  country,  unacquainted  with  the  language, 
customs,  and  conditions  of  the  land,  with  no  re- 
sources but  his  immediate  earnings  to  depend  upon 
for  his  daily  bread  in  season  of  employment  and  out 
of  season,  does  not  have  many  choices  left  as  to  the 
kind  of  work  he  will  do,  the  amount  of  pay  he  must 
have  for  it,  and  the  kind  of  house  and  community 
he  will  live  in.  By  sheer  and  inevitable  necessity  he 
is  forced  to  take  whatever  work  he  can  get,  to  be 
satisfied  with  whatever  wages  his  generous  em- 
ployer is  willing  to  pay  him,  and  to  be  contented 
with  such  food  and  shelter  as  his  wages  allow,  leav- 
ing a  small  margin  of  savings  against  emergencies. 
In  the  course  of  time,  as  his  economic  condition  im- 
proves, his  standard  of  living  naturally  rises.  Tern-  - 
porarily,  however,  "sausage,  and  three  loaves  of 
stale  bread  for  five  cents"  must  be  his  staple  food 
as  long  as  his  American  Christian  employer  has  the 
conscience  to  pay  him  the  lowest  possible  wage  for 
his  labor,  saying,  "they're  glad  enough  to  get 
work. ' ' 7  To  blame  the  Polish  immigrant  for  his  low 
standard  of  living  under  such  conditions  betrays  a 
sad  lack  of  judgment.  We  might  with  equal  reason 
blame  the  early  Virginia  colonists  for  the  unsani- 
tary conditions  which  caused  them  to  die  of  fever; 
the  Pilgrims  for  their  lack  of  foresight,  energy,  and 
efficiency,  which  brought  about  practical  starvation 
of  many  of  them;  Lincoln  for  having  been  born  in 
a  log-cabin ;  Garfield  for  having  been  a  mule  driver ; 
and  President  Harding  for  having  started  as  a  news- 
boy and  a  printer.  Then,  too,  says  Dr.  Hourwich, 
"it  is  clearly  insufficient  to  compare  the  sections  in- 
habited by  English-speaking  skilled  mechanics  and 
their  families  with  the  settlements  of  the  unskilled 

'Shriver,  pp.  27-28. 


ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS  OF  IMMIGRANTS    73 

Slav  laborers,  with  a  view  to  showing  that  the  for- 
mer present  a  better  appearance  than  the  latter. 
The  housing  conditions  of  the  new  immigrants 
should  be  compared  with  those  of  the  Irish  and  Ger- 
man unskilled  laborers  a  generation  ago,  in  order 
to  support  the  conclusion  that  the  former  have  in- 
troduced a  lower  standard  of  living. ' ' 8 

Poles  in  agriculture.— The  Poles,  however,  are  not 
all  in  cities  and  in  factories.  They  are  chiefly  peas- 
ants, and  many  of  them  seek  the  country  and  take 
to  farming.  Miss  Balch  estimates  that  one-third  of 
the  Poles  are  living  in  country  places ;  Rev.  Father 
Kruszka  puts  the  number  at  500,000.9  Miss  Balch 
doubtless  overestimates  and  Father  Kruszka  under- 
estimates the  number  of  Poles  engaged  in  agricul- 
ture. The  number  probably  is  somewhere  in  the 
neighborhood  of  750,000. 

Polish  farming  communities  are  located  in  Massa- 
chusetts, New  York,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wiscon- 
sin, and  Texas.10  In  1901  the  number  of  Polish 
farming  settlements  was  estimated  at  seven  hun- 
dred. The  size  of  Polish  farms  varied  from  40  to 
360  acres  and  more,  with  an  average  of  80  acres. 
The  total  acreage  of  Polish  farm  land  at  that  time 
was  about  5,600,000.  The  value  of  these  farms  was 
put  at  $210,000,000.11  By  today  these  Polish  agri- 
cultural settlements  have  considerably  increased,  if 
not  in  number,  certainly  in  size,  in  population,  and 
in  the  value  of  farms  and  farming  equipment.  If 
twenty  years  ago  the  value  of  Polish  farms  was 
$210,000,000,  which  certainly  was  a  very  modest 
estimate  even  at  that  time,  averaging  only  $37.50 
per  acre,  it  is  perfectly  safe  to  say  that  today  the 
value  of  Polish  farm  property,  including  land,  build- 

8  Immigration,  p.  54. 
•  Balch,  p.  320 ;  Kruszka,  III,  p.  120. 
"Shriver,  pp.  82-83;   Jenks,  p.  89. 
"Kruszka,  III,  pp.  120-121. 


74  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

ings,  stock,  and  equipment,  is  at  least  twice  that 
amount,  or  $420,000,000. 

Transition  to  agriculture.— The  Poles  in  the  rural 
communities  on  Long  Island  and  in  the  Connecticut 
Valley  are  of  three  classes,  farm  laborers,  renters, 
and  independent  farmers.  Their  economic  progress 
follows  two  lines ;  those  who  settle  on  the  land  imme- 
diately after  their  arrival  in  America,  begin  as  farm 
laborers,  gradually  develop  into  renters,  and  finally 
become  independent  farm  owners ;  a  second  class  set- 
tle on  the  land  after  a  number  of  years'  residence 
and  work  in  the  city,  and  according  to  their  accumu- 
lated savings  begin  either  as  renters,  or  at  once  as 
independent  farm  owners.  However,  the  transition 
from  industry  to  farming  is  slight ;  and  wherever  it 
is  made,  it  must  be  made  by  the  first  generation  of 
immigrants.  The  second  generation,  brought  up  in 
the  city,  are  not  likely  to  turn  to  farming  as  they 
grow  up.  Their  associations,  ambitions,  and  habits 
will  be  of  the  town.12  According  to  the  Immigra- 
tion Commission,  about  one-half  of  the  Polish  farm- 
ers have  been  in  this  country  less  than  a  decade,  at 
the  time  of  the  investigation  made.13  This  shows 
that  those  who  settled  on  farms  did  so  either  imme- 
diately on  arrival  or  shortly  after. 

Poles  efficient  and  successful  farmers.— "  The 
farming  of  the  Poles,' '  says  Miss  Balch,  "is  re- 
garded as  inferior  by  the  Americans. ' '  Their  great 
economic  advantage  is  ascribed  to  the  fact  "that  all 
the  members  of  the  family,  women  and  children  as 
well  as  men,  work  in  the  fields.' ' 14  The  fact,  how- 
ever, remains  that  the  Poles  are  making  a  success 
of  farms  given  up  by  the  natives.  "Their  readi- 
ness in  mastering  the  art  of  farming  speaks  well  for 
their  quickness  of  observation  and  their  power  to 

33  See  Balch,  p.  335. 

"Jenks,  p.  81. 

u  Our  Slavic  Fellow  Citizens,  p.  329. 


ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS  OF  IMMIGRANTS    75 

apply  information,  and  to  adjust  themselves  to  new 
conditions."  15  They  understand  intensive  agricul- 
ture, and  are  industrious.  They  possess  in  extraor- 
dinary measure  the  qualities  of  application  and  en- 
durance. They  are  thrifty  and  let  little  go  to  waste. 
Their  success,  accordingly,  is  no  matter  of  surprise. 
The  New  Englanders  of  the  Connecticut  Valley,  for 
instance,  speak  unhesitatingly  in  terms  of  highest 
praise  of  the  industry,  thrift,  efficiency,  and  pros- 
perity of  the  Polish  farmers ;  and  one  after  another 
of  the  best  farms  in  the  Connecticut  Valley  is  pass- 
ing into  Polish  hands.16 

Poles  in  business.— During  the  early  stages  of 
Polish  immigration,  the  Poles  constituted  chiefly  an 
army  of  workers,  seeking  employment  wherever  it 
could  be  found.  This  was  perfectly  natural.  Most 
of  the  Polish  immigrants  were  peasants,  without  any 
qualifications  for  business  and  without  any  working 
capital.  The  first  thing  they  had  to  do  was  to  get 
a  firm  footing  in  their  new  land,  to  establish  a  home, 
and  to  accumulate  some  surplus  capital.  This  hav- 
ing been  done,  they  gradually  began  to  branch  out 
into  business  and  manufacturing.  Beginning  cau- 
tiously, they  started  to  use  their  working  capital 
first  in  small  enterprises  and  later  on  in  larger  un- 
dertakings. As  time  went  on  ever  larger  numbers 
would  leave  their  factory  jobs,  and  go  into  business 
for  themselves.  In  this  way  Polish  business  grew 
and  developed  until  today  it  is  in  a  very  flourishing 
condition,  with  full  promise  of  still  greater  develop- 
ment. In  every  Polish  colony  one  can  today  find 
numerous  Polish  stores,  covering  practically  all 
branches  of  business ;  and  some  of  these  Polish  busi- 
ness enterprises  rival  in  variety,  quantity,  and  qual- 
ity of  stock  and  in  prices  some  of  the  better  up-town 
American  stores.    As  a  result  of  high  wages  during 

"Boston  Transcript,  August  4,  1909. 
16  See  Shriver,  pp.  82-85. 


76  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

the  War,  and  consequent  greater  accumulations  of 
surplus  capital,  as  well  as  the  allurement  of  great 
business  profits,  the  last  five  years  have  witnessed  a 
tremendous  development  of  Polish  business.  If  it 
is  safe  to  generalize  from  the  observation  of  some 
settlements,  it  may  be  perfectly  safe  to  say  that  Po- 
lish business  has  grown  one  hundred  per  cent  and 
more  in  the  last  five  years. 

Poles  in  industry.— Besides  business,  the  Poles 
have  by  degrees  engaged  in  manufacturing.  Here, 
too,  Polish  industry  has  been  subject  to  a  process 
of  development.  Starting  on  a  small  scale,  and 
along  few  lines  at  first,  it  has  slowly  grown  larger 
until  it  has  come  to  embrace  many  lines  of  manu- 
facturing today.  The  oldest  Polish  industry  in  the 
United  States  is  the  clothing  industry.  It  dates 
back  to  the  Civil  War.  The  cause  of  its  rise  is  evi- 
dently to  be  looked  for  in  the  large  demand  for 
clothing  at  that  time,  as  during  the  recent  World 
War,  and  in  the  resulting  high  wages  and  big 
profits.17  Next,  in  point  of  time,  engaging  the  at- 
tention of  the  Poles,  is  contracting  and  building  and 
the  moving  of  houses ;  then  the  brewing  of  beer,  the 
manufacture  of  cigars  and  smoking  tobacco,  baking 
and  butchering ;  and  in  more  recent  years  the  manu- 
facture of  picture  frames,  stained-glass  windows, 
stoves,  furniture,  shoes,  shirts,  ties,  and  caps.  As 
Polish  business,  so  Polish  industry  has  been  greatly 
stimulated  and  has  taken  big  strides  forward  in  the 
last  five  years. 

The  Poles  in  the  professions.— During  the  first 
twenty  to  thirty  years  of  the  early  history  of  Polish 
immigration  to  the  United  States  there  was  a  great 
scarcity  of  professional  men  in  every  Polish  settle- 
ment. The  Polish  immigrant,  in  need  of  profes- 
sional services,  had  to  resort  to  physicians  and  law- 
yers of  other  nationalities,  particularly  Jews.    This 

"  Kruszka,  III,  pp.  92,  99. 


ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS  OF  IMMIGRANTS    77 

state  of  things  was  inevitable.    Polish  immigration, 
as  has  already  been  noted,  was  not  composed  of  the 
"inteligencja,"  including  the  professional  class,  but 
of  the  peasantry.    It  was  only  here  and  there  that 
a  professional  man  ventured  to  pull  up  stakes  and 
transplant  himself  to  the  United  States ;  and  in  such 
cases  he  very  likely  was  the  least  desirable.    Conse- 
quently the  Polish  immigrants  in  the  United  States 
had  to  wait  until  they  could  develop  a  professional 
class  of  their  own  from  among  the  younger  genera- 
tion.    This,  again,  required  time.     It  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at,  therefore,  if  for  the  first  twenty-five  to 
thirty  years,  that  is,  down  to  1900  or  1905,  the  Polish 
colonies  did  not  compare  favorably,  in  respect  of 
business,  manufacturing,  or  the  professions,  with 
colonies  of  other  earlier  settlers,  the  Germans  or 
even  the  Czechs. y  Such  comparisons,  though  fre- 
quently made  to  the  inevitable  discredit  of  the  Poles, 
have  been  very  unfair ;  for  they  have  never  taken  all 
the  facts  involved  in  the  case  into  account.    Given 
necessary  time,  however,  the  Polish  peasant  immi- 
grants have  gradually  developed  from  among  their 
own  group  a  creditable  business  and  professional 
class, — a  class  of  business   and  professional  men 
brought  up  in  our  American  atmosphere  and  trained 
in  our  American  institutions,  wide-awake,  energetic, 
and  increasingly  efficient,  with  qualities  for  service 
and  leadership. 

Value  of  Polish  property.— Besides  being  indus- 
trious, the  Polish  immigrants  are  a  very  thrifty 
class  of  people.  In  the  homeland  the  Polish  peas- 
ant 's  one  supreme  ambition  is  to  own  a  piece  of  land 
and  a  home.  When  he  comes  to  America,  he  brings 
that  supreme  ambition  with  him.  He  works,  denies 
himself,  and  saves,  in  order  that  he  may  some  day 
have  a  home  of  his  own  to  live  in,  and  a  patch  of 
ground  for  that  home  to  stand  on.18    Being  more  or 

18  Cf.  Balch,  p.  307. 


78  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

less  permanent  residents,  the  Poles  are  owners  of 
homes.  It  may  safely  be  said  that  seventy  to  eighty 
per  cent  of  them  own  their  homes.  As  early  as  1887 
the  Chicago  Tribune  calculated  that  the  Poles  in 
that  one  city  owned  real  estate  worth  $10,000,000. 
In  1900  Father  Kruszka  estimated  that  the  Poles  in 
the  United  States  owned  $600,000,000  worth  of  city 
property  alone,  besides  $210,000,000  worth  of  farm 
property.  Today,  taking  into  account  the  increase 
in  population,  the  high  wages  and  profits  received 
during  the  War,  and  the  fabulous  increase  in  prop- 
erty values,  it  is  safe  to  increase  the  former  figure 
by  150%,  raising  the  present  value  of  Polish-owned 
city  property  to  $1,500,000,000.  To  this  let  us  add 
the  minimum  present  value  of  Polish-owned  farm 
property,  namely,  $420,000,000,  and  we  have  a  mod- 
erate grand  total  of  $1,920,000,000  worth  of  real 
estate  property  owned  by  the  Poles  in  the  United 
States. 

Nor  is  this  all.  "Aside  from  their  private  banks, 
and  state  banks  under  their  own  management,  the 
Poles  have  innumerable  Building  and  Loan  Associa- 
tions, which  play  a  large  part  in  the  savings  and  real 
estate  developments.  These  associations  are  to  be 
found  in  every  Polish  community,  lending  money, 
selling  shares,  carrying  mortgages ;  in  the  cities  cov- 
ered by  this  report  there  are  about  150  such  organi- 
zations doing  an  annual  business  of  about  $7,000,000. 
One  association  in  Buffalo  showed  a  total  of  $91,000 
handled  in  small  sums  for  investors  in  the  year  1913 ; 
and  the  same  board  of  directors  stated  that  there 
was  no  reason  why  that  association  should  not  carry 
in  that  community  a  business  investment  amounting 
to  $960,000,  all  in  small  sums  invested  in  stores, 
homes,  and  real  estate.  In  Cleveland  there  is  a  Po- 
lish Chamber  of  Commerce,  formed  for  the  express 
purpose  of  *  booming  Polish  trade,  influencing  per- 
manent settlement  in  the   community,  promoting 


ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS  OF  IMMIGRANTS    79 

sympathetic  relations  between  the  Poles  and  the 
Americans  of  other  nationalities  in  that  city.'  n  19 
In  Chicago,  in  1904,  there  were  eighty-one  Bohe- 
mian and  Polish  Building,  Loan,  and  Homestead 
Associations  with  $6,200,000  in  assets,  220,000 
shares  in  force,  and  an  approximate  membership  of 
28,000.20  In  Baltimore,  in  1920,  the  assets  of  five 
Polish  Building  and  Loan  Associations  amounted  to 
more  than  $2,000,000.  And  during  the  War  the  Poles 
purchased  $67,000,000  worth  of  Liberty  Bonds,  re- 
ceiving the  fourth  place  among  the  subscribers  of 
foreign  birth  or  descent  to  the  Liberty  Loans. 

"Hayden,  Religious  Work  among  Poles  in  America,  pp.  9-10. 
"Balch,  p.  307. 


CHAPTER  IV:    SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  AND  EDU- 
CATIONAL FORCES 


Chapter  IV. 

SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  AND  EDUCATIONAL 

FORCES 

Housing.— In  a  study  of  social  conditions  of  dif- 
ferent social  or  racial  groups,  it  is  well  to  begin  with 
the  home,  the  housing  conditions;  for  the  home,  its 
structure,  location,  environment,  and  arrangement, 
is,  broadly  and  relatively  speaking,  both  an  embodi- 
ment and  an  expression  of  the  social  ideals  and 
tastes  of  any  given  social  group  as  well  as  a  primary 
social  institution  the  general  character  and  atmos- 
phere of  which  powerfully  influence  and  mold  the 
lives  of  coming  generations.  Housing  conditions, 
however,  are  not,  strictly  speaking,  personal,  social, 
or  racial,  but  economic ; *  and  this  fact  must  not  be 
lost  sight  of  in  any  such  study. 

Housing  congestion  in  our  large  industrial  centers 
is  not  wrought  by  the  habits  or  standards  of  living 
of  immigrants,  but  is  forced  upon  them  by  condi- 
tions not  of  their  own  choosing  or  making,  such  as 
low  wages,  high  rents,  poor  city  planning,  inade- 
quate building  laws,  and  the  notorious  neglect  on 
the  part  of  city  administrations  of  so-called  "for- 
eign" sections.2  "That  bad  housing  conditions  are 
not  the  exclusive  characteristic  of  the  immigrant, 
but  are  found  under  like  economic  conditions  among 
the  native  wage-earners  as  well,  has  been  shown  by 
the  investigation  of  the  Immigration  Commission  in 
Alabama,  where  there  are  practically  no  foreigners 

a  Jenks,  p.  117. 
'Hourwich,  pp.  235-240. 

83 


84  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

whose  competition  might  be  supposed  to  have  forced 
down  the  American  standard  of  living,  and  where 
'the  home  of  the  native  white  laborer  is  frequently 
devoid  of  the  more  modern  equipment  and  sanita- 
tion. '  ' ' 3  And  in  southern  mill-towns,  where  the 
mill-workers  are  largely  country  people  of  old 
American  stock,  the  company  houses  in  which  they 
live  "are  neither  sheathed,  plastered,  nor  papered, 
and  the  tenants  suffer  intensely  from  occasional  cold 
weather. ' ' 4 

In  judging  the  Poles,  then,  we  must  take  into  ac- 
count their  wages  and  the  housing  conditions  in 
America  as  they  find  them.  In  the  households  in- 
vestigated by  the  Immigration  Commission  the  aver- 
age number  of  persons  per  100  rooms  was  only 
134,  and  per  100  sleeping  rooms  232.  The  Poles 
averaged  per  100  rooms  155  persons,  while  the  Slo- 
venians averaged  172  persons  per  100  rooms  and 
South  Italians  166  persons.  When  the  average  num- 
ber of  persons  per  sleeping  room  is  taken,  the  Poles 
average  2.72  persons  per  sleeping  room,  the  Sloven- 
ians— 2.99,  the  South  Italians — 2.54,  the  Magyars — 
2.43,  as  compared  with  an  average  of  2.03  among 
Germans  and  1.93  among  native  Americans.5 

Overcrowding  is  most  frequently  shown  by  the 
keeping  of  boarders  or  lodgers.  Among  the  native 
Americans  10.2%  of  the  families  keep  boarders; 
among  the  foreign-born — 27.2%.  Among  the  for- 
eign-born the  Poles  occupy  the  sixth  place  with 
35.5%  of  the  Polish  families  keeping  boarders  or 
lodgers,  the  Lithuanians  leading  with  70.2% ;  then 
follow  the  Hungarians  with  47.3%,  North  Italians — 
42.9%,  Swedes— 37.2%,  and  Slovaks  with  41%.6 

3Hourwich,  p.  246;  see  also  Keports  of  the  Immigration  Commis- 
sion, IX,  229. 

4  Streightoff,  Standard  of  Living,  p.  92 ;  Hourwich,  p.  246 ;  Jenks, 
p.    279. 
6  Jenks,  pp.  119-120. 
e  Ibidem,  p.  121. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  85 

The  househc  3  of  immigrants,  as  compared  with 
the  native-boru  wage-earners,  pays,  generally  speak- 
ing, the  same,  if  not  higher  rent  per  room,  but  lower 
rent  per  person,  as  among  the  immigrants,  there  is, 
generally  speaking,  a  much  larger  number  of  per- 
sons per  room.  The  native-born  white  pays  $2.51 
on  the  average  per  room  per  month,  while  the  for- 
eign-born pays  $2.90.  The  native-born,  then,  with 
a  much  higher  income  pays  less  rent  per  room  per 
month  than  the  foreign-born  with  a  decidedly  smaller 
income  is  required  to  pay.  That  under  such  condi- 
tions congestion  is  inevitable  is  perfectly  clear.  Of 
the  foreign-born  the  South  Italians  pay  $3.28  per 
room  per  month,  the  Slovenians  $2.20,  the  Russian 
Jews  $3.51.  The  Greeks  pay  the  highest  average 
per  room,  $4.59,  and  the  Poles  the  lowest,  $1.60.  The 
lowest  rent  per  person  is  paid  by  the  immigrant 
Slovenian,  $1.29;  next  ranks  the  immigrant  Pole, 
$1.34;  the  Pole  of  foreign  father,  but  native-born 
pays  $1.35 ;  the  Slovak  pays  $1.37 ;  the  South  Italian 
$1.91 ;  and  the  Eussian  Jew  $2.33.  These  rents  are, 
of  course,  pre-war  and  not  post-war  rents.  In  all 
these  cases  it  is  perfectly  clear  that  the  effort  is 
made  to  reduce  rent  per  person  by  increasing  the 
number  of  persons  per  room,  i.  e.,  by  taking  on 
boarders  or  lodgers,  which  low  wages  and  high  rents 
make  inevitable.7 

Of  the  families  studied  by  the  Immigration  Com- 
mission one-tenth  own  their  homes.  Of  the  native- 
born  families  5.7%  own  their  homes,  and  of  the  for- 
eign-born 10.4%.  Among  the  immigrants,  25.8%  of 
the  Germans  own  their  homes ;  of  the  Swedes  19.4%  ; 
of  the  Poles  17% ;  of  the  Irish  12.5% ;  and  of  the 
Slovenians  11.1  %.8  These  percentages,  however, 
have  been  greatly  modified  in  the  course  of  the  last 
few  years  in  favor  of  larger  home-ownership  among 

TJenks,  p.  122. 
•Ibidem,  p.  123. 


86  THE  POLES  IN  AMERI'  'A 

all  groups.  Among  the  Poles,  for  in  tance,  it  is  safe 
to  say,  that  75%  of  the  Polish  families  own  their 
homes  at  the  present  time,  1921. 

The  degree  of  house  cleanliness  among  the  Poles 
is  noteworthy.  Miss  Janet  E.  Kemp  in  her  Report 
on  Housing  Conditions  in  Baltimore  says:  "Of  the 
four  districts  investigated,  the  Thames  Street  dis- 
trict— which,  by  the  way,  is  the  worst  housing  dis- 
trict in  the  Polish  section  of  Baltimore — ranks  first 
in  the  matter  of  interior  cleanliness.  Of  its  904 
rooms,  808  were  described  as  clean,  and  out  of  322 
halls  and  stairways  only  32,  or  slightly  less  than 
10%,  were  found  to  be  dirty.  Throughout  the  in- 
vestigation no  impossibly  high  standard  of  clean- 
liness was  applied.  All  rooms,  'halls,  yards,  and 
cellars  that  were  not  positively  dirty  were  classed 
as  clean.  But  in  the  Thames  Street  district,  in 
nearly  all  cases,  the  adjective  may  be  considered 
as  descriptive  of  actual  conditions.  A  remembered 
Saturday  evening  inspection  of  five  apartments  in 
a  house  in  Thames  Street,  with  their  whitened  floors 
and  shining  cook  stoves,  with  the  dishes  gleaming 
on  the  neatly  ordered  shelves,  the  piles  of  clean 
clothing  laid  out  for  Sunday,  and  the  general  at- 
mosphere of  preparation  for  the  Sabbath,  suggested 
standards  that  would  not  have  disgraced  a  Puritan 
housekeeper." 

Family  life.— The  family  is  regarded  with  respect 
and  reverence.  Family  life  is  still  largely  of  the 
patriarchal  type ;  the  father  is  the  undisputed  nomi- 
nal, though  not  always  real,  head  of  the  family.  The 
mother  occupies,  in  theory  at  least,  but  not  neces- 
sarily in  practice,  a  somewhat  secondary  place,  and 
the  children  are  trained  in  filial  respect  and  obedi- 
ence. Polish  families,  as  a  rule,  are  large,  with  an 
average  of  five  to  six  children  to  the  family.9  The 
family  forms  an  economic  unit.    In  many  instances 

•Jenks,  p.  61. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  87 

the  labor  of  the  wife  and  the  children  supplements 
that  of  the  husband  and  father.  The  earnings  of 
the  family  go  into  a  common  treasury,  and  are  dis- 
tributed to  each  member  according  to  his  or  her 
needs.  Of  course,  as  the  economic  condition  of  the 
family  improves,  the  mother  is  relieved  of  outside 
work,  devoting  her  entire  attention  to  the  home 
and  the  family,  and  the  children  are  given  an  oppor- 
tunity to  secure  better  education.  The  standard  of 
morality  is,  on  the  whole,  high  among  the  Poles.  An 
evidence  of  this  is  found  in  the  vigor  and  vitality 
of  the  Polish  stock  and  in  the  small  number  of  di- 
vorces among  the  Polish  people.  Owing  to  a  differ- 
ence in  language,  customs,  ideas,  and  the  general 
American  environment,  parental  authority  and  influ- 
ence is  not  infrequently  lessened,  and  the  second 
generation  is  apt  to  grow  up  quite  independent  of 
home  influences,  which  does  not  always  result  in  a 
better  type  of  manhood  and  womanhood  and  in  a 
more  desirable  citizenship.  On  the  whole,  however, 
the  second  generation  of  Polish  immigrants  makes 
as  good  citizens  as  any  other  national  group  pro- 
duces; and  these  uasa  rule  adopt  the  language  and 
the  customs  of  the  country."  10 

Intermarriage.— Intermarriage  between  the  Poles 
and  other  nationalities  plays  as  yet  a  very  small  role. 
According  to  the  Census  of  1910  97.2%  of  Polish  im- 
migrant families  were  nationally  homogeneous,  with 
both  parents  born  in  Poland,  and  only  2.8%  were 
mixed,  with  one  parent  born  in  Poland  and  one 
native.  And  even  in  the  case  of  the  2.8%  mixed 
marriages  the  fact  must  not  be  lost  sight  of  that 
many  a  parent  recorded  as  native  was  of  Polish 
nationality  born  in  this  country.  It  is  also  interest- 
ing to  note  that  more  Polish-born  men  marry  native- 
born  women  (2.2%)  than  native-born  men  marry 
Polish-born  women  (0.5%) ;  and  that  the  percentage 

"Kruszka,  I,  p.  87. 


88  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

of  women  born  in  other  foreign  countries  married 
to  Polish-born  men  is  slightly  larger  than  that  of 
native-born  women,  2.9%  as  to  2.2 %.11 

Relation  to  native  Americans.— It  is  a  well-known 
fact  that  the  native  American  population  does  not 
stay  in  the  sections  of  our  cities  invaded  by  immi- 
grants, but  moves  to  up-town  districts  or  to  the 
suburbs.  Those  that  actually  do  remain  for  busi- 
ness or  other  reasons  constitute  a  very  small  and 
scattered  group.  This  naturally  leaves  the  immi- 
grant settlements  solidly  foreign  and  quite  to  them- 
selves. It  certainly  is  true  of  the  Polish  settlements, 
especially  of  the  larger  ones  in  our  larger  city- 
centers.  Quite  naturally,  too,  there  is  no  social  in- 
tercourse between  the  Poles  and  the  Americans,  and 
very  little,  if  any,  between  the  Poles  and  other  im- 
migrant groups  for  the  same  reason.  Whatever 
•**"*  intercourse  there  exists  between  the  Poles  and  the 
Americans,  is  of  a  business  or  political,  but  not  of 
a  social  nature.  This  sharp  line  of  social  demarca- 
tion has  tended  to  preserve  and  to  perpetuate  a  dis- 
tinctly foreign  character  of  our  city  immigrant  com- 
munities by  natural  and  inevitable  necessity.  ^  We 
learn  and  assimilate  by  contact;  where  there  is  no 
contact,  there  is  no  exchange  of  ideas  and  no  assimi- 
lation. However,  the  feeling  of  the  Poles  toward 
the  native  Americans  is  cordial,  and  in  as  far  as 
they  have  opportunity  to  become  acquainted  with 
what  is  best  in  American  social  life,  they  readily 
make  it  their  own. 

Social  life  and  recreation.— Being  left  to  them- 
selves, the  Polish  immigrant  communities  have  by 
necessity  had  to  preserve  and  develop  a  social  life 
and  forms  of  recreation  of  their  own.  The  Pole's 
intense  social  and  hospitable  nature  finds  expres- 
sion, pleasure,  and  satisfaction  in  frequent  "  getting 
together."    The  Pole  likes  to  visit,  to  talk,  to  en- 

UU.  S.  Census  for  1910. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  89 

tertain,  and  to  have  a  good  time.  He  passionately 
loves  music,  dancing,  and  dramatic  art.  Weddings 
and  christenings  furnish  great  opportunities  for  so- 
ciability; holidays  are  taken  advantage  of  for  social 
visiting,  and  in  summer  for  family  picnics ;  musical 
concerts  and  dramatic  plays  always  find  favor  with 
the  Poles,  and,  if  good,  are  thoroughly  enjoyed  and 
appreciated.  In  anteprohibition  days  the  saloon 
was  a  very  popular  social  and  recreational  center; 
but  now  the  home,  friends,  wholesome  community 
entertainments,  and  the  great  outdoors  receive  more 
attention,  and  furnish  sociability  and  recreation. 

Civic  life  and  political  relations.— At  first  for  a 
number  of  years  the  Poles  took  small  part  in  civic 
and  political  affairs ;  but  their  interest  and  participa- 
tion in  them  have  been  growing  rapidly  in  recent 
years.  With  improvement  in  their  economic  condi- 
tion and  with  greater  acquisition  of  property  and  of 
the  English  language  as  well,  their  interest  in  civic 
and  political  matters  has  been  aroused,  and  as  a 
result  a  greater  percentage  of  them  have  become 
naturalized  citizens.  Of  the  Poles  studied  by  the 
Immigration  Commission  that  have  been  in  the 
United  States  from  5  to  9  years  33.1%  have  either 
been  naturalized  or  hold  first  papers;  of  those 
that  have  been  here  10  years  and  more,  39.8%  have 
been  fully  naturalized.12  This  percentage  has  been 
considerably  raised  during  the  war  and  since.  It 
may  probably  be  safe  to  say  that  at  present  (1921) 
50-6Q%,  if  not  more,  of  the  Poles  in  this  country 
are  naturalized  American  citizens. 

As  to  political  affiliations,  both  parties  count  Poles 
as  members.  In  the  days  before  the  Civil  War  the 
slavery  issue  tended  to  draw  the  Poles  into  the  Re- 
publican ranks,  and  many  of  them  fought  gallantly 
on  the  side  of  the  Union.  It  is  interesting  to  find, 
writes  Miss  Balch,  that  the  Poles  voted  for  Grant 

u  Jenks,  pp.  272,  273,  406. 


90  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

in  1872, — the  first  election  in  whick  they  were  not- 
ably interested, — because  he  recognized  the  French 
Eepublic  during  the  Prussian  War,  while  his  oppo- 
nent, Greeley,  was  supposed  to  favor  Austria  in 
Italy  and  Germany  in  Alsace-Lorraine.13  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  claimed  that  in  Chicago  Poles  are 
"  normally  Democrats."  14  In  the  election  of  1920 
many  supported  the  Democratic  candidate  out  of 
gratitude  to  President  Wilson  for  his  stand  regard- 
ing Poland.  Both  Republicans  and  Democrats  have 
nominated  Poles  to  office;  and  a  number  of  these 
nominees  have  been  elected  and  have  sat  in  city 
councils  and  in  state  legislatures,  both  in  the  lower 
chamber  and  in  the  upper.15 

Organizations.— Polish  life  in  the  United  States  is 
well  organized.  In  1905  the  Poles  numbered  as 
many  as  three  to  four  thousand  organizations  of  va- 
rious kinds,  religious,  secular,  and  mixed.  The  larg- 
est of  these  is  the  Polish  National  Alliance,  organ- 
ized under  the  present  name  in  1880,  but  going  under 
different  names  as  far  back  as  1842.  The  purpose 
of  this  organization  is  "to  promote  the  moral  and 
material  development  of  Polish  immigrants  in  the 
United  States  through  the  establishment  of  Polish 
'Homes,'  schools,  and  benevolent  institutions,  and 
through  the  encouragement  of  Polish  industry;  to 
encourage  temperance;  and  to  maintain  the  proper 
observance  of  national  holidays."  16  In  1904  the 
Alliance  numbered  595  locals  with  a  total  member- 
ship of  40,035.  Between  1886  and  1904,  inclusive,  it 
had  paid  out  $1,517,378.95  in  death  benefits  and  in- 
surance, and  had  a  balance  in  its  treasury  of  $242,- 
441.53.  At  present  (1921)  it  has  a  membership  of 
125,000,  and  maintains  a  daily  and  a  weekly  publica- 

uOur  Slavic  Fellow  Citizens,  pp.  394-395. 
"Ibidem,  p.  395. 

u  Ibidem,  p.  395 ;  Kruszka,  III,  pp.  132-134. 
"Kruszka,  IV,  p.  22. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  91 

tion,  an  Immigrant  Home  in  New  York  City,  and  a 
High  School  at  Cambridge  Springs,  Pa.,  and  by 
means  of  stipends  assists  Polish  students  in  their 
efforts  to  acquire  a  higher  education.17  While  nomi- 
nally secular  and  non-sectarian,  the  Alliance  has 
been  very  much  under  clerical  influence  in  recent 
years,  very  conservative  and  very  reactionary.  The 
headquarters  of  the  Alliance  is  in  Chicago. 

Of  next  importance  is  the  Polish  National  De- 
fence Committee  known  also  by  its  Polish  initials  as 
the  K.  0.  N.  This  organization  came  into  being  sev- 
eral years  before  the  war.  Its  original  purpose  was 
to  promote  education  among  the  Polish  immigrants 
in  this  country,  and  to  work  for  Poland's  independ- 
ence. Its  spirit  and  policies  have  been  liberal  and 
progressive;  and  the  K.  0.  N.  has  rallied  to  itself 
all  the  liberal  and  progressive  element  among  the 
Polish  immigrants,  regardless  of  differences  in  re- 
ligious, economic,  or  political  views.  During  the 
war  the  K.  0.  N.  supported  General  Pilsudski  and 
his  Polish  legions,  opposed  Polish  reliance  on  Rus- 
sia up  to  the  time  of  the  fall  of  the  Czarist  regime, 
and  advocated  a  policy  of  self-reliance  and  oppor- 
tunism. On  that  account  it  was  very  much  misun- 
derstood and  misrepresented  and  even  its  loyalty  to 
this  Government  was  questioned.  However,  as  to 
the  last  there  was  absolutely  no  rational  ground 
vhatever  for  any  such  suspicion;  for  the  K.  O.  N. 
welcomed  the  entrance  of  the  United  States  into  the 
European  War,  and  built  its  hopes  for  Polish  inde- 
pendence on  it  in  a  large  measure.  The  membership 
of  the  K.  0.  N.  does  not  approach  that  of  the  Alli- 
ance, but  it  represents  the  more  progressive  element 
among  the  Poles.  The  chief  object  of  the  organiza- 
tion now  is  educational.  Its  headquarters  are  also 
in  Chicago. 

Besides  these  two  most  important  organizations 

"McClure,  pp.  70-76. 


92  THE  POLES  I^T  AMERICA 

of  opposite  extremes,  the  one  conservative  and  re- 
actionary and  the  other  liberal  and  progressive, 
there  are  several  other  organizations  of  importance 
like  the  Polish  Eoman  Catholic  Union,  the  Polish 
Falkans,  or  "Sokols,"  the  Polish  Women's  Union, 
and  the  Polish  Singers  Union  of  America.  These 
national  organizations  are  further  supplemented  by 
an  innumerable  number  of  local  organizations  of  one 
kind  or  another,  in  which  different  phases  of  Polish 
social  lif  e  and  activity  center,  and  find  expression. 

The  Church.— The  most  important  Polish  social 
institution  is  the  church.  It  is  the  first  one  to  be 
established,  and  its  centralizing  power  is  beyond 
dispute.  Around  it,  and  stimulated  by  it,  grows  the 
Polish  colony,  with  its  agencies  well  organized  and 
controlled.  The  church  not  only  expresses  the  re- 
ligious aspirations  of  the  Poles  and  ministers  to 
their  religious  needs,  but  also  completely  dominates 
the  entire  life  of  the  colony.  This  accounts  for  the 
unprogressive  character  of  some  of  the  smaller  Pol- 
ish colonies.  The  larger  ones,  in  which  the  domi- 
nating influence  of  the  church  is  weaker,  show  more 
independence,  activity,  and  progress. 
^^Educational  institutions:  (a)  The  parochial 
school.— The  next  most  important  Polish  social  in- 
stitution is  the  Polish  parochial  school.  This  insti- 
tution owes  its  origin  to  the  instinct  of  self-preser- 
vation. Deeply  religious  and  nationalistic,  the  Po- 
lish immigrant  has  striven,  not  only  to  worship  God 
in  his  mother-tongue,  but  also  to  have  his  children 
instructed  in  his  native  language.  This  all  the  more 
so,  because  under  Prussian  and  Eussian  rule  he  had 
been  forbidden  to  have  his  children  taught  in  Polish. 
And  the  clergy,  regarding  the  Polish  parochial 
school  as  the  very  foundation  of  the  Polish  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  this  country  have  taken  the  ini- 
tiative in  its  organization  and  establishment.18    To 

"Kruszka,  II,  pp.  83,  84;  cf.  Balch,  p.  416. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  93 

determine  the  number  of  Polish  parochial  schools, 
one  must  know  the  approximate  number  of  Polish 
parishes.  This  was  in  1900  about  500,  and  in  1910 
about  600.  The  number  of  children  enrolled  in  these 
schools  in  1901  was  approximately  70,000,  and  the 
teaching  force  consisted  of  200  secular  male  teachers 
and  804  convent  sisters,  or  about  one  teacher  to 
every  70  children.19 

The  value  of  the  physical  equipment  of  these 
schools  at  that  time  was  estimated  at  six  mil- 
lion dollars.  The  annual  salaries  paid  to  teadi-i 
ers  amounted  to  $140,000  for  male  teachers  and 
$160,000  for  sisters,  making  an  annual  total  of 
$300,000.20 

The  course  of  instruction  in  the  Polish  parochial 
schools  embraces  eight  years  and  is  supposed  to 
cover  all  such  subjects  as  are  commonly  taught  in 
elementary  and  grammar  grades,  with  religious  in- 
struction added.  The  work  done  is  regarded  as 
equal  to  that  of  the  public  schools.21  Moreover,  Fa- 
ther Kruszka  claims  that  children  going  from  the 
Polish  parochial  schools  to  public  schools  enter  cor- 
responding classes,  and  in  some  instances  are  actu- 
ally promoted  to  higher  grades.22  We  have  no  de- 
sire here  to  controvert  Father  Kruszka  's  statements, 
but  we  must  say  that  his  evaluation  of  the  work  of 
the  Polish  parochial  schools  is  greatly  overstated. 
To  our  knowledge  the  instruction  in  the  Polish  pa- 
rochial schools  does  not  equal  that  of  the  public 
schools,  and  children  going  from  Polish  parochial 
schools  to  public  schools  must,  invariably  and  as  a 
rule,  enter  lower  grades,  because  of  inadequate 
preparation  for  the  work  of  corresponding  grades, 
not  to  speak  of  advanced  grades.    In  support  of  this 

"  Kruszka,  II,  pp.  86-88. 
*°  Ibidem,  II,  p.   89. 
"Ibidem,  II,  p.  97. 
»Ibi<L*m,  II   p.  98. 


9*  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

contention  we  cite  a  Polish  press  criticism  of  Polish 
parochial  schools: — 

"  Being  mostly  orthodox  Catholics,  Polish  parents 
are  compelled  to  send  their  children  to  Polish  pa- 
rochial schools.  All  other  schools,  especially  the 
public  schools,  are  denounced  from  the  pulpit  and 
in  the  so-called  ' church-press'  as  'unchristian,  pa- 
gan and  demoralizing  institutions. '  Parents  send- 
ing their  children  to  any  other  but  the  parochial 
school  are  denounced,  threatened,  ostracized,  even 
expelled  from  the  church,  and  their  children  are  per- 
secuted. With  the  exception  of  those  where  the 
priest  is  a  sincere  educator,  the  parochial  schools 
are  poor,  many  of  them  very  poor,  educational  in- 
stitutions. Reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  geography, 
and  history  are  taught  in  many  of  them  rather  su- 
perficially. On  the  other  hand  many  hours  are  spent 
every  day  in  reciting  catechism  and  church  formu- 
las, which  is  called  *  teaching  religion,'  but  it  is  far 
from  being  really  religion.  The  result  of  such  poor 
system  of  teaching  is  that  the  Polish  children,  after 
spending  six  or  seven  years  in  the  parochial  school, 
can  hardly  pass  an  examination  for  the  fifth  grade 
in  the  public  schools — if  they  want  to  continue  their 
education  in  the  public  schools. ' '  23 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  may  safely  be  said  that 
the  parochial  school,  whether  Polish,  Bohemian, 
Italian,  or  any  other,  is  a  menace  rather  than  a  bless- 
ing to  the  welfare  of  the  immigrants  themselves  as 
well  as  of  the  nation;  for  it  fails  to  prepare  the 
immigrant's  children  adequately  for  their  competi- 
tive economic  struggle  in  the  new  land  alongside  of 
those  going  through  the  public  school  and  for  intelli- 
gent participation  in  civic  and  political  life.  Out  of 
consideration,  therefore,  for  the  real  welfare  both  of 
the  immigrants  and  of  the  nation  at  large,  the  paro- 
chial school  should  be  done  away  with.    And  as  to 

"Balch,  App.  XXVI,  p.  477. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  95 

teaching  the  children  of  the  immigrants  their  re- 
spective mother  tongues,  that  could  be  provided  for 
at  much  less  expense  by  the  various  immigrant 
groups  in  hours  outside  of  the  public  school.  A  new 
language  is  an  added  avenue  leading  to  the  hidden 
intellectual  and  spiritual  treasures  of  a  people.  The 
more  such  avenues  the  citizenship  of  a  nation  is 
familiar  with  the  greater  is  the  national  access  to 
the  intellectual  and  spiritual  treasures  of  others  and 
the  richer  that  nation's  intellectual  and  spiritual 
life.  Not  suppression  of  native  languages  and  senti- 
ments among  our  immigrant  groups,  but  their  de- 
velopment and  utilization  should  be  our  aim.  It  will 
enrich  our  own  culture,  enlarge  our  resourcefulness, 
and  increase  our  strength. 

(b)  The  public  school.— Owing  to  the  strong  na- 
tional consciousness  of  the  Poles  and  the  presence 
of  a  parochial  school  in  nearly  every  Polish  commu- 
nity of  any  appreciable  size,  the  feeling  prevails 
among  the  Poles  and  native  Americans  alike  that 
the  majority  of  Polish  children  attend  the  parochial 
schools.  Yet  on  reflection  and  investigation  the  in- 
teresting fact  is  revealed  that  after  all  the  majority 
of  Polish  children  of  school  age  are  to  be  found  in 
the  public  schools.  In  his  history  of  the  Poles  in 
America  Father  Kruszka  estimates  the  number  of 
children  in  Polish  parochial  schools  in  1901  at  about 
70,000.  The  Polish  population  in  the  United  States 
is  estimated  to  number  3,500,000.  Allowing  one- 
third  of  this  number  for  surplus  male  immigrants, 
and  dividing  the  remainder  by  five,  the  number  of 
individuals  to  a  family,  we  obtain  466,733,  the  num- 
ber of  families.  Now,  granting  that  of  the  three- 
fifths  of  family  members  two-fifths  are  children 
either  above  or  below  school  age,  we  have  one-fifth 
left,  or  466,733,  the  number  of  Polish  children  of 
school  age,  that  is,  one  child  of  school  age  in  every 
family.    Taking  70,000  as  the  average  annual  num- 


96  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

ber  of  Polish  children  in  the  parochial  schools  and 
deducting  it  from  466,733,  we  still  have  396,733,  or 
approximately  400,000  Polish  children  of  school 
age,  who  obviously  can  be  nowhere  else  except  in  the 
public  schools.  This  calculation  finds  support  in  the 
results  of  the  investigation  made  by  the  Immigra- 
tion Commission.  The  Commission's  report  in- 
cluded information  for  a  total  of  2,036,376  school 
children,  of  whom  221,159,  or  9.64%  of  the  total, 
were  in  parochial  schools.  Of  those  in  the  public 
schools  766,727,  or  42.2%,  were  children  of  native- 
born  fathers,  while  1,048,490,  or  57.8%,  were  chil- 
dren of  foreign-born  fathers.  Of  these  pupils  some 
were  born  abroad,  and  some  in  the  United  States.24 

Among  the  children  enumerated  in  the  public 
schools  included  in  the  Commission's  report  the  per- 
centage of  retardation  was  as  follows:  White  chil- 
dren of  native-born  fathers  34.1%;  children  of  for- 
eign-born parents  36%.  The  highest  percentage  of 
retardation  was  found  among  the  South  Italians, 
48.6% ;  next  to  them  rank  the  Poles  with  48.1% ; 
then  come  the  North  Italians  with  45.9% ;  and  then 
the  French  Canadians  with  43.1%.  Best  of  all  rank 
the  Finnish  children  with  only  27.7%  retardation; 
then  the  Swedish  with  28.7%  ;  the  Dutch  with  31.1% : 
the  Welsh  with  32% ;  the  English  with  33.7% ;  and 
the  Norwegian  with  33.9 %.25  This  makes  it  per- 
fectly evident  that  the  children  of  Catholic  parents 
are  the  ones  that  show  the  highest  percentage  of  re- 
tardation, while  children  of  Protestant  parents 
show  the  lowest  percentage  of  retardation ! 

(c)  Secondary  schools.— The  Polish  elementary 
parochial  schools  are  supplemented  by  several  sec- 
ondary institutions  such  as  the  College  of  the  Res- 
urrectionist Fathers  in  Chicago,  the  Polish  National 
Alliance  High  School  at  Cambridge  Springs,  Pa.,  a 

*Jenks,  pp.  282,  283. 
"Ibidem,  p.  286. 


A  GROUP   OF   POLISH   WOMEN   IN    AGRICULTURE.    (U.  S.) 


A   GROUP   OF   POLISH    MEN    IN    AGRICULTURE.      (U.S.) 


fSec  parte  :■ 


YOUNG   POLISH    MINERS    '.U.S.) 


LEARNING    ENGLISH    IN   THE    FORD  SHOPS    DETROIT 

[See  itufje  95 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  97 

School  for  Women  of  the  Holy  Family  in  Philadel- 
phia, Pa.,  a  Polish  Theological  Seminary  at  Orchard 
Lake,  Michigan,  and  others.26  These  institutions, 
however,  do  not  draw  any  appreciable  number  of 
Polish  youth.  Polish  young  men  and  young  women 
seeking  higher  education  prefer  to  go  to  American 
high  schools,  colleges,  and  universities. 

(d)  Night  schools.— Another  educational  force  is 
night  schools,  public  and  private.  Their  importance 
as  an  educational  factor  in  Polish  communities  must 
not  be  underestimated.  They  serve  the  adults  and 
young  people  above  school  age.  Many  a  Polish  im- 
migrant has  here  acquired  a  knowledge  of  English, 
\or  has  laid  a  foundation  for  further  study :    For 

many  the  night  school  has  been  a  door  opening  on 
a  wide  vista  of  opportunity,  and  leading  to  success 
in  the  new  land.  But  for  the  night  school  many  a 
one  would  be  deprived  of  an  opportunity  for  self- 
improvement,  and  the  country  of  a  more  useful  and 
valuable  citizen.  The  influence  of  night  schools  in 
foreign  communities  is  unquestionably  great. 

(e)  Lecture  courses.— Still  another  potent  educa- 
tional force  have  been  the  so-called  "  TJniwersytety 
ludowe,"  or  popular  lecture  courses  arranged  for 
and  offered  to  the  public  either  by  some  organization 
or  by  a  group  of  public-spirited  men  and  women  in- 
terested in  the  social  and  educational  welfare  of 
their  countrymen.  Such  popular  lecture  courses 
have  been  established  and  are  maintained  in  many 
of  the  larger  Polish  centers.  The  lectures  cover  a 
wide  range  of  subjects,  vary  from  year  to  year,  and 
are  of  great  educational  and  spiritual  value. 

(f)  Polish  National  Halls.— Then,  too,  we  must  not 
fail  to  mention  the  Polish  National  Halls  as  educa- 
tional institutions  and  forces.  These  are  Polish 
^Community  Buildings,"  erected  and  operated  as 
Polish  community  centers  by  the  Polish  citizens  or- 

*  Okolowicz,  p.  51. 


98  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

ganized  as  stock  companies  or  corporations.  There 
is  scarcely  a  Polish  settlement  of  any  size  without 
such  a  "hall,"  or  "home."  And  these  halls  con- 
stitute the  centers  of  Polish  organized  life  and  of 
Polish  educational  and  social  activities.  To  be  sure, 
in  some  places,  in  pre-prohibition  times,  these  Na- 
tional Halls  were  only  common  ordinary  saloons 
and  dance-halls.  In  other  places,  where  the  clerical 
influence  predominates,  they  have  been  converted 
into  church  halls.  But  in  most  places  they  have 
preserved  their  original  purpose  and  have  been  cen- 
ters for  good  along  the  line  of  educational  and  social 
activities  and  life. 

Polish  press.— At  the  outbreak  of  the  World  "War 
the  Polish  periodical  press  in  the  United  States  was 
composed  of  fifteen  dailies  and  sixty  weeklies. 
Since  then  several  more  dailies,  weeklies,  and 
monthlies  have  sprung  into  being,  so  that  it  may  be 
safe  to  say  that  the  present  total  number  of  Polish 
periodical  publications  is  not  far  from  a  hundred. 
These  are  published  chiefly  in  the  larger  Polish  cen- 
ters like  Milwaukee,  Chicago,  Detroit,  Toledo,  Cleve- 
land, Buffalo,  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Bal- 
timore, and  Pittsburgh,  although  many  a  smaller 
place  is  not  without  a  local  weekly. 

The  oldest  Polish  weekly  publication  is  the 
"Zgoda,"  founded  in  1878  in  Milwaukee,  and  in 
1888  transferred  to  Chicago.  The  "Zgoda"  is  the 
official  organ  of  the  Polish  National  Alliance.  The 
oldest  Polish  daily  in  the  United  States  is  the 
"Kurjer  Polski,"  founded  in  1888  in  Milwaukee  by 
Michael  Kruszka.27 

The  circulation  of  the  seventy-five  Polish  publica- 
tions totaled  1,238,418  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war; 
the  present  total  circulation  is  doubtless  larger.  The 
circulation  of  the  Polish  dailies  runs  from  5,000  to' 
30,000,  and  of  the  weeklies  from  5,000  to  120,000 

"Okolowicz,  p.  59. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  99 

copies.  In  this  connection  the  thing  worthy  of  note 
is  the  fact  that  the  liberal  and  progressive  publica- 
tions, of  anti-clerical  tendencies,  have  a  larger  circu- 
lation than  the  conservative  and  clerical.  For 
instance,  the  "Kurjer  Polski,"  a  radical  and  anti- 
clerical daily,  published  in  Milwaukee,  has  a  circu- 
lation of  20,000  copies,  whereas  the  "Nowiny  Pol- 
skie,,,  a  clerical  daily,  published  in  that  city,  has  a 
circulation  of  only  10,000  copies.  In  Detroit  the 
liberal  daily,  "Kurjer  Polski,"  is  reported  to  have 
a  circulation  of  15,000,  and  the  conservative  ' l  Rekord 
Codzienny"  only  8,000  copies.  In  Buffalo  the  con- 
servative clerical  daily,  "Polak  w  Ameryce,"  re- 
ports a  circulation  of  6,000,  and  the  liberal  "Dzien- 
nik  dla  Wszystkich,, — a  daily  circulation  of  16,000 
copies.  And  the  "Ameryka-Echo,"  a  liberal  and 
distinctively  anti-clerical  weekly,  published  in  To- 
ledo, Ohio,  has  a  circulation  of  80,000  copies,  and  is 
probably  the  most  widely  read  paper  of  any  Polish 
publication  in  the  United  States.  The  "Zgoda"  re- 
ports a  circulation  of  120,000;  but  it  is  not  a 
subscription  publication;  it  is  the  official  organ  of 
the  Polish  National  Alliance,  sent  to  every  member 
of  the  organization,  and  such  publications  are  sel- 
dom diligently  read.28  It  is  interesting  to  note  also 
that  nearly  all  of  the  foreign  language  editors  agree 
that  their  papers  are  not  read  by  the  young  people, 
but  mainly  by  the  old.29 

As  to  quality  the  Polish  American  press  is  not  of 
a  high  order;  yet,  on  the  whole,  it  compares  favor- 
ably with  similar  publications  in  other  languages, 
and  still  more  so  when  it  is  remembered  that  it  is 
the  material  and  intellectual  product  of  the  Polish 
peasant  immigrant. 

Leadership.— The  leadership  among  the  Polish 
immigrants  in  America  is  in  the  hands  of  the  ex- 


■ 

39 


Okolowicz,  pp.  59-60. 
McClure,  p.  39. 


100  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

saloon-keepers,  the  priests,  a  select  number  of  well 
educated  immigrant  Poles,  and  the  rising  genera- 
tion of  Polish  Americans  brought  up  in  the  Ameri- 
can atmosphere  and  trained  in  our  American  insti- 
tutions. The  first  two  groups  of  leaders,  the  ex- 
saloon-keepers  and  the  priests,  are  usually  found 
to  work  together  hand-in-glove ;  for  both  groups  are 
exploiters  of  the  people  and  social  parasites,  with 
no  ideas  to  advance,  but  to  prey  on  the  masses. 
They  are  naturally  reliable  conservatives.  The 
other  two  groups  divide  into  conservatives  and  pro- 
gressives according  to  their  primary  object  in  life. 
Those  whose  chief  ambition  is  to  make  a  quick  suc- 
cess in  business  or  profession  rather  than  to  be  con- 
cerned about  the  general  welfare  of  society  usually 
line  up  with  the  conservatives,  the  ex-saloon-keepers 
and  the  priests,  the  men  of  influence  and  authority. 
Those,  on  the  other  hand,  whose  dominant  desire  in 
life  is  to  contribute  something  to  the  sum  total  of 
social  well-being,  to  advance  ideas  and  to  promote 
social  welfare,  regardless  of  material  success,  as  a 
rule  tear  loose,  and  line  up  with  the  progressives. 
Among  the  organized  agencies  the  leadership  is  di- 
vided between  the  Polish  National  Alliance  and  the 
Polish  Defence  Committee  or  K.  0.  N. ;  the  Alliance 
representing  the  ultra-conservative  and  reactionary 
elements  and  the  K.  0.  N.  leading  the  liberals  and, 
generally  speaking,  the  forces  of  progress. 

Assimilation.— The  early  Polish  immigrants, 
patriots  and  men  of  education,  melted  into  the  com- 
mon life  so  completely  that  the  later  comers  could 
find  no  point  of  attachment  with  them.  The  more 
recent  immigrants  have  come  in  much  larger  num- 
bers; they  have  formed  solid  colonies;  and  as  an 
inevitable  consequence  they  have  in  a  remarkable 
degree  preserved  their  language  and  their  distinc- 
tive customs.  On  the  other  hand,  all  efforts  in  the 
direction  of  preservation  of  racial  and  national  dis- 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  101 

tinctions  are  as  nothing  against  the  irresistible  in- 
fluence of  environment  and  of  American-born  chil- 
dren. Parents  may  be  surprised,  proud,  or  scan- 
dalized, but  they  are  powerless  to  prevent  the  trans- 
forming process.  The  influence  of  environment  and 
the  innate  positive  dislike  of  children  to  be  different 
from  their  playmates  are  very  potent  forces  in  the 
Americanization  of  the  second  generation.  Ameri- 
canization, however,  does  not  necessarily  mean  a  de- 
nial or  a  refusal  to  learn  one's  native  tongue.  This 
should  be  encouraged  rather  than  discouraged  for 
reasons  of  parental  home  discipline,  of  leadership 
among  newcomers,  and  of  national  welfare  and 
strength  in  emergencies.30  "It  is  right  enough  that 
the  immigrant  into  an  English-speaking  nation 
should  learn  the  English  language.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  altogether  desirable  that  Americans 
should  broaden  their  own  culture  by  learning  from 
the  immigrant  as  well  as  by  teaching  him.  In  no 
other  way  can  the  possible  benefits  of  the  amalga- 
mation of  national  and  racial  types  be  secured.  We 
quite  rightly  ask  them  to  abandon  their  old  loyal- 
ties; but  we  shall  be  incredibly  foolish  if  we  also 
constrain  them  to  forget  the  culture  they  have  in- 
herited. We  blame  our  foreigners  for  their  clan- 
nishness.  We  resent  the  fact  that  they  sequester 
themselves  among  people  of  their  own  race,  and  do 
not  take  the  trouble  to  understand  our  language  or 
our  history  and  institutions;  but  we  are  guilty  of 
an  analogous  piece  of  provincialism  when  we  betray 
our  unwillingness  to  learn  from  them,  while  expect- 
ing them  to  learn  from  us.  The  Pole  usually  knows 
Eussian  and  German,  and  even  French,  as  well  as 
his  native  tongue.  In  Switzerland  one  can  hardly 
find  a  schoolboy  who  has  not  three  languages  in 
tolerable  repair  and  in  constant  use."31    A  knowl- 

"See  Baleh,  pp.  412-416. 
MSee  Bridges,  pp.  56-61. 


102  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

edge  of  more  than  one  language  means  so  many  mas- 
ter-keys to  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  treasures 
of  more  than  one  literature.  With  her  citizenship 
drawn  from  the  ends  of  the  earth,  no  country  has  a 
more  magnificent  opportunity  to  be  the  proud  mis- 
tress of  the  languages  and  the  literatures  of  the 
world  than  the  United  States.  And  yet  no  country 
in  the  world  can  possibly  be  as  blind  to  any  oppor- 
tunity as  we  are  to  this  unsurpassed  opportunity 
of  ours! 

But  it  is  not  only  the  second  generation  of  Polish 
immigrants  that  becomes  rapidly  assimilated.  The 
first  generation,  too,  is  fairly  responsive  to  the  in- 
fluence of  its  new  environment.  Among  the  em- 
ployees in  the  packing  houses  of  Kansas  City,  the 
Immigration  Commission  found  that  while  of  the 
German  employees  under  5  and  9  and  over  10  years 
in  the  United  States  only  20%,  70%,  and  95.8%  re- 
spectively could  speak  English,  the  percentages  of 
Polish  employees  speaking  English  were  26.1%, 
73.2%,  and  100%  for  corresponding  periods  of  resi- 
dence in  the  United  States.32  In  the  clothing  indus- 
try, taking  the  same  periods  of  residence  in  this 
country,  the  percentages  for  male  Bohemian  and 
Moravian  employees  speaking  English  were  22.5%, 
45.0%,  and  75.0%,  and  for  female  employees  of  the 
same  nationality — 18.1%,  57.5%,  and  88.0%  respec- 
tively; for  male  Polish  employees  the  percentages 
were  24.8%,  62.4%,  and  83.2%,  and  for  Polish  fe- 
male employees  they  were  19.4%,  63.0%,  and  89.4% 
respectively.33  Of  the  total  Polish  immigrant  popu- 
lation of  both  sexes  39.1%  speak  English.34  More- 
over, an  evidence  of  Polish  Ameiicanism  and  of  Po- 
lish loyalty  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
is  the  ready  participation  of  the  Poles  in  all  the  wars 

"Hourwich,  p.  78;  Keports,  Vol.  13,  Table  256,  p.  329. 
33  Ibidem,  p.  58 ;  Keports,  Vol.  II,  p.  363,  Table  95. 
"Jenks,  pp.  407-409. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  103 

of  the  Union,  from  the  Revolutionary  War  down  to 
the  Great  World  War.35  On  our  entrance  into  the 
World  War  President  Wilson  called  for  100,000  vol- 
unteers; 40,000  of  those  responding  were  Poles.  In 
view  of  the  fact  that  they  make  up  only  3.18%  of  our 
population  it  is  very  significant  that  during  the 
War  there  were  220,000  Poles  in  the  United  States 
Army;  that  on  the  casualty  lists  10%  are  Polish 
names ;  that  of  the  peoples  of  foreign  birth  or  descent 
they  are  rated  fourth  in  their  contributions  to  the 
Liberty  Loans  with  $67,000,000.36 

^Kruszka,  III,  p.  134-136;  IV,  pp.  10-12. 
wKev.  D.  G.  Jaxheimer,  Ms.  on  the  Poles. 


CHAPTER  V:    RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS 


Chapter  V 
EELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS 

OUTSTANDING    CHARACTERISTICS, 

Religion  of  the  Poles.— In  religion  the  Poles  are 
predominantly  Roman  Catholic.  Their  devotion  to 
the  Church  of  Rome,  as  a  result  of  temperamental 
and  historical  conditions,  surpasses  that  of  any 
other  nationality.1  The  Protestants  constitute  only 
6.6%  of  the  total  Polish  population,  and  their  num- 
ber among  Polish  immigrants  in  the  U.  S.  is  very 
small  and  scattered. 

The  Poles  are  a  very  religious  people,  possessed 
of  a  deep  religious  instinct  and  a  temperament  par- 
ticularly susceptible  to  religious  impressions.  Re- 
ligion permeates  the  Polish  peasant's  thought, 
speech,  and  daily  lif  e.  The  names  of  Christ  and  the 
Virgin  are  on  his  lips  all  the  time.  His  legends  and 
folklore  are  religious  in  character.  His  patriotism 
and  his  religion  are  inseparably  linked  together  in 
his  mind.  A  good  Pole  is  expected  to  be  a  good 
Catholic.  A  testimony  to  the  religious  fervor  of 
the  Poles  is  their  many  sanctuaries,  cathedrals, 
and  shrines  in  the  homeland  and  their  churches  in 
this  country.  The  Poles  have  always  been  very  lib- 
eral in  their  gifts  to  religion;  hence  their  church 
edifices  usually  are  large,  highly  ornamented,  not 
infrequently  imposing,  and  often  charming.  Their 
worship  is  full  of  imagery,  pageantry,  and  symbol- 
ism.   Their  devotion  is  intense.    It  is  almost  pitiful 

aCf.  Winter,  p.  274. 

107 


108  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

— says  Winter — the  desperation  with  which  the  Po- 
lish peasants  cling  to  what  seems  to  a  Westerner  to 
be  antiquated  religious  forms,  and  into  the  observ- 
ance of  which  they  seem  to  throw  their  whole  soul. 
The  men  in  the  churches  equal  the  women  in  num- 
bers, and  they  seem  fully  as  absorbed  in  their  devo- 
tion.2 

Pilgrimages  are  common  and  popular.  Czensto- 
chowa,  a  town  midway  between  Warsaw  and  Cra- 
cow, is  the  Mecca  of  the  Poles.  Here  is  the  home  of 
the  "Mother  of  God  of  Czenstochowa, ' '  the  Queen 
and  Protectress  of  Poland.  Her  sacred  picture,  re- 
ported to  have  been  drawn  by  St.  Luke  upon  the 
cypress  table  top  from  the  Nazareth  home,  forms 
the  altar-piece  of  a  small  chapel  in  the  cathedral.3 
This  place  is  the  central  point  of  Polish  religious 
history.  The  Poles  consider  it  a  great  privilege  to 
be  permitted  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to  Czenstochowa. 
No  sacrifice  is  too  great  to  be  made  in  order  to  ac- 
complish the  journey.  Bands  of  pilgrims  are  almost 
constantly  coming  in  from  some  direction.  Some- 
times hundreds  and  even  thousands  of  peasants  may 
be  seen  lying  flat  on  their  faces  during  worship,  each 
one  muttering  his  prayers.  In  places  the  stones  are 
actually  worn  by  the  contact  of  the  knees  of  the 
worshipers.  Before  Poland's  partitions  it  was  the 
custom  even  for  the  royal  processions  on  the  way 
from  Warsaw  to  Cracow  for  the  coronation  cere- 
monies to  stop  at  this  shrine.4 

Children  are  early  taught  to  say  their  prayers  and 
to  perform  the  various  acts  of  homage.  The  sacred 
images  in  the  churches  are  worn  smooth  by  the  oscu- 
lations of  the  devoted  worshipers.  Every  conceiv- 
able device  is  employed  by  the  clergy  to  obtain  and 
retain  control  of  the  simple  mind  of  the  peasant. 

aCf.  Winter,  pp.  275-276. 

■Hayden,  p.  13. 

4Cf.  Winter,  pp.  277,  279. 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  109 

Every  material  that  can  draw  the  attention  of  the 
eye,  and  every  sound  that  will  attract  the  ear,  is 
employed  in  the  religious  symbols.5 

The  religion  of  the  Poles  is  chiefly  a  religion  of 
external  rites,  symbolic  forms,  servile  fear,  and 
magical  personal  salvation  rather  than  of  spiritual 
idealism  and  inner  freedom,  filial  trust  and  loving 
obedience,  purity  of  heart  and  outward  moral  con- 
duct, practical  brotherly  love  and  social  service.  It 
rests  on  ignorance  instead  of  on  intelligence.  It 
appeals  to  superstition  instead  of  to  rational  moral 
and  social  idealism.  While  the  religious  tempera- 
ment and  the  deeply  religious  nature  of  the  Poles 
are  of  priceless  value,  and  furnish  a  solid  rock-bot- 
tom foundation  for  a  magnificent  superstructure  of 
real,  vital,  and  practical  personal  and  social  relig- 
ion, the  actual  religious  superstructure  erected  upon 
this  wonderful  foundation  has  been  rather  valueless. 
Its  external  form  and  decorations  are,  to  be  sure, 
almost  literally  of  gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones ; 
but  its  internal  frame-work  and  substance  are,  un- 
fortunately, too  much  of  wood,  hay,  and  stubble.  It 
is,  therefore,  largely  useless,  a  showy  but  burden- 
some liability,  a  serious  obstacle  in  the  way  of  in- 
dividual, social,  and  national  progress  and  develop- 
ment. 

This  is  the  religious  heritage  the  Polish  peasant 
immigrants  bring  with  them.  True  to  the  example 
of  the  patriarchs  of  old,  the  early  discoverers  and 
explorers  of  this  continent,  and  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
of  later  days,  who,  when  they  came  to  a  new  coun- 
try, first  of  all  built  an  altar  to  Jehovah,  raised  the 
cross,  or  erected  a  meeting  house  to  the  honor  and 
glory  of  their  God,  the  Poles,  on  their  arrival  in 
this  country,  just  as  soon  as  a  sufficient  number  of 
them  has  settled  in  a  place,  build  their  church  in 
which  they  may  worship  God  according  to  the  cus- 

•Cf.  Winter,  p.  277. 


110  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

toms  of  their  fathers  in  the  homeland.  The  Polish 
settlement  grows  around  the  church,  which  is  the 
center  of  its  life  and  activity. 

In  1900,  according  to  Father  Kruszka,  the  Poles  in 
this  country  had  520  churches  and  550  priests.6  By 
1910  the  number  of  Polish  churches  increased  to 
about  600  and  that  of  priests  to  about  1,000.7  Since 
then,  owing  to  the  War  and  the  stoppage  of  immi- 
gration, the  growth,  if  any,  in  the  number  of  churches 
has  been  insignificant.  Some  of  the  Polish  churches 
are  of  considerable  size  and  beauty ;  they  are  struc- 
tures which,  according  to  Dr.  Steiner,  might  well  be 
the  pride  of  any  community,  or,  according  to  Mr. 
Okolowicz,  a  notable  adornment  of  any  European 
capital.8  On  Sundays  and  on  other  church  holidays 
as  well,  these  churches  are  filled  with  worshipers  to 
overflowing ;  for  the  Poles  are  a  church-going  people. 

Disintegrating  forces.— Our  free,  critical,  inquir- 
ing, and  extremely  practical  American  atmosphere, 
however,  has  a  disintegrating  influence  upon  their 
religion.  Nor  can  it  be  otherwise.  A  religion  of 
external  forms,  however  elaborate,  over-awing,  or 
charming  these  may  be,  based  on  ignorance,  super- 
sition,  and  fear,  cannot  hold  its  ground.9  Sooner 
or  later  it  is  bound  to  fall  a  prey  to  inevitable  disin- 
tegration and  decay.  This  process  of  religious  dis- 
integration is  more  rapid  in  its  operation  in  some 
cases  than  in  others.  Among  the  Czechs  and  Ital- 
ians, for  instance,  it  is  decidedly  more  rapid  than 
among  the  Poles. 

The  slower  disintegration  of  religious  faith  and 
forms  among  the  Poles  is  due  to  several  causes. 
First,  as  has  already  been  noted,  the  Polish  peasant 
possesses  a  deeply  religious  nature  and  is  very 

6  Vol.  I,  p.  88. 

7  Okolowicz,  p.  50. 

8  Cf .  Dr.  Steiner,  On  the  Trail,  p.  211,  and  Okolowicz,  p.  50. 

9  Cf.  McClure,  pp.  78-79. 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  111 

loyal.  He  is  not  much  inclined  to  scepticism,  nor 
to  change  of  loyalty.  He  is  generous  and  true ;  he 
trusts  implicitly,  is  devotedly  loyal,  and  may,  in 
turn,  be  fully  depended  upon.  He  is  neither  the 
first  nor  the  last  either  to  accept  a  new  thing  and 
pin  his  faith  to  it,  or  to  give  up  readily  an  old  tried, 
thing.  He  prefers  to  pursue  a  safe  middle  course. 
It  may  take  him  longer  to  give  up  an  old  worn-out 
idea  or  institution  and  to  take  up  with  something 
new ;  but  when  he  once  does  a  thing  wholeheartedly, 
his  faith  and  loyalty  may  be  depended  upon.  Sec- 
ondly, the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  remarkably 
well  succeeded  in  persuading  the  Polish  peasant  to 
believe  that  his  national  fortunes  are  inseparably 
tied  up  with  Roman  Catholicism.  This,  of  course, 
is  not  true,  as  history  plainly  shows ;  yet  it  is  gen- 
erally believed  to  be  true,  and  the  belief  is  not  alto- 
gether without  some  historical  foundation.  Poland's 
most  implacable  enemies  and  oppressors,  Russia 
and  Germany,  are  of  different  religious  faiths,  Rus- 
sian Orthodox  and  Protestant.  The  portion  of  di- 
vided Poland  in  which  the  Poles  enjoyed  the  largest 
measure  of  autonomy  and  liberty  before  the  Restor- 
ation was  not  the  Congress  10  Kingdom  under  the 
rule  of  Orthodox  Russia,  nor  Posen  under  the  rule 
of  Protestant  Germany,  but  Galicia  under  the  rule 
of  Catholic  Austria.  Even  today  the  best  conti- 
nental friend  of  Poland  is  Catholic  France  rather 
than  Protestant  England.  In  the  light  of  these 
facts,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  it  has  been^ 
so  easy  for  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  to  foist  on 
the  Poles  the  belief  in  the  identity  of  their  nation- 
ality with  Roman  Catholicism.  Polish  strong  pa- 
triotism, therefore,  has  naturally  dictated  at  least 
nominal  adherence  and  conformity  to  the  estab- 
lished national  church.    And,  thirdly,  social  consid- 

10  A  kingdom,  with  the  Czar  as  king,  constituted  by  the  Congress 
of  Vienna  in  1815,  out  of  the  remnant  of  Poland. 


112  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

erations,  too,  tend  to  preserve  and  maintain  this  out- 
ward religious  conformity.  The  operation  of  these 
causes  explains,  in  a  large  measure,  the  slower  dis- 
integration of  religion  and  its  forms  among  the 
Poles  as  compared  with  conditions  among  other 
nationalities. 

But  while  the  causes  just  described  have  retarded 
the  disintegrating  process  of  traditional  religion 
among  the  Poles,  they  have  not  prevented  it.  The 
ecclesiastical  and  religious  disintegration  has  been 
in  force ;  and  it  has  been  greatly  stimulated  by  the 
influence  of  our  free  political  and  social  institutions, 
the  separation  of  Church  and  State  in  this  country, 
our  great  variety  of  religious  denominations,  and 
our  friendly  harmonious  life  in  spite  of  many  differ- 
ences of  opinion,  belief,  profession,  and  political  as 
well  as  religious  affiliation.  Its  results  are  signifi- 
cant. It  is  variously  estimated  that  the  number  of 
Poles  who  have  broken  away  from  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church  embraces  from  one-fifth  to  one-third  of 
the  total  Polish  immigrant  population  in  the  United 
States.11 

Forms  of  religious  break-up.— The  ecclesiastical 
and  religious  break-up  among  the  Poles  is  taking  on 
the  forms  (1)  of  religious  doubt,  apathy,  and  grow- 
ing religious  indifference;  (2)  of  open  revolt  against 
the  domineering  and  dictatorial  attitude  of  the  hier- 
archy of  the  Church;  and  (3)  of  actual  hostility  and 
undisguised  opposition,  not  only  to  the  Church  of 
Rome,  but  to  all  churches  and  to  religion  as  well. 
The  last-named  form  of  religious  break-up  does  not 
assume  any  significant  proportions  among  the 
Poles,12  although  here  and  there  its  influence  ap- 
pears to  be  considerably  strong  and  active.  The 
reason  for  that  is  to  be  found  in  the  deeply  religious 

"Father  Kruszka  estimates  it  at  one-third;  MeClure  at  one-fifth. 
"See  MeClure,  p.  79. 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  113 

nature  of  the  Poles.  Cases  of  open  group-revolt 
against  the  autocracy  of  the  hierarchy  of  the  Church 
are  not  infrequent ; 13  and  in  many  instances  they 
have  resulted  in  an  out-and-out  break  with  the 
Church  of  Borne.  Wherever  this  occurs,  it  is  a  re- 
sult of  the  Pole  's  natural  and  intense  love  of  liberty 
coming  to  the  fore  and  asserting  itself  in  religion  no 
less  than  in  politics.14  Those  that  are  under  the 
influence  of  religious  doubt,  apathy,  or  of  out-and- 
out  indifference  are  the  most  numerous  and  consti- 
tute the  largest  group. 

Forms  of  religious  re-alignment,  (a)  The  Polish 
National  Independent  Catholic  Church.— In  nature 
every  chemical  decomposition  leads  to  new  chemical 
combinations,  and  to  the  development  of  new  forms. 
It  is,  therefore,  of  great  interest  to  know  the  new  re- 
ligious alignments  among  the  Poles.  Wherever  there 
occurs  a  complete  group-break  with  the  Church  of 
Kome,  as  a  result  of  some  abuses  on  the  part  of  the 
Eoman  hierarchy,  it  most  frequently  leads  to  the 
formation  of  a  Catholic  church  independent  of  the 
Roman  organization.  In  this  way  the  Polish  Na- 
tional Independent  Catholic  Church  arose  with 
Bishop  Francis  Hodur,  of  Scranton,  Pa.,  as  its  or- 
ganizer, leader,  and  head.  The  movement  is  largely 
a  protest  against  the  domination  of  the  Polish  Ro- 
man Catholic  Church  in  this  country  by  Irish  and 
Roman  Catholic  groups  and  a  demand  for  parish 
control  of  church-property.  It  numbers  about  50 
churches,  most  of  which  are  in  the  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania; it  has  a  benefit  "Union,"  with  72  local 
branches ;  and  it  publishes  a  weekly  paper,  which  is 
its  official  organ,  and  which  purports  to  reach  a 
constituency  of  about  50,000  readers.  In  faith  and 
worship  the  Polish  National  Church  is  still  Catholic ; 
it  retains  the  Catholic  creeds,  the  mass,  the  confes- 

uCf.  McClure,  pp.  79-80. 
"Cf.  Ibidem,  p.  79. 


114  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

sional,  images,  the  worship  of  the  Virgin  and  the 
saints,  and  the  Roman  Church  calendar  of  Holy 
days.  It  differs  from  the  Roman  Church,  however, 
in  the  substitution  of  the  Polish  language  for  the 
Latin  in  the  mass;  leaving  the  matter  of  auricular 
confession  to  the  discretion  of  the  individual  local 
priests;  giving  its  members  the  Scriptures  and  en- 
couraging them  to  read  it;  in  the  tendency  toward 
a  married  clergy ;  and  in  the  matter  of  a  more  demo- 
cratic church  administration.  The  movement  marks 
a  step  in  the  right  direction.  Its  chief  handicap  is 
a  painful  lack  of  the  right  sort  of  leadership.  If 
Bishop  Hodur  had  men  of  good  character,  religious 
convictions,  high  ideals,  and  proper  training,  the 
movement  would  be  making  considerable  progress.15 

(b)  The  Polish  Catholic  Church  of  America.— An- 
other very  similar  religious  organization  is  the  Po- 
lish Catholic  Church  in  America,  with  Bishop 
Francis  J.  Mazur,  of  Detroit,  Mich.,  as  its  organizer 
and  leader.  Its  rise  is  to  be  traced  to  very  much 
the  same  causes  that  led  to  the  organization  of  the 
Polish  National  Church,  with  this  difference  that  the 
Polish  Catholic  Church  of  America  is  a  protest 
against  both  former  church  organizations,  the  Ro- 
man and  the  National,  that  in  its  administration  it 
is  much  more  democratic  than  either.  Its  creed  is 
very  progressive,  its  outlook  very  broad,  and  its 
conception  of  the  Church's  social  mission  quite 
advanced. 

(c)  Anti-Church  organizations.— Those  who  have 
lost  faith,  not  only  in  the  Church,  but  also  in  reli- 
gion, affiliate,  in  certain  instances,  with  radical  or- 
ganizations, the  attitude  of  which  is  that  of  opposi- 
tion to  arbitrary  power,  and  its  abuses  wherever 
these  appear,  whether  in  politics,  industry,  or  re- 
ligion.   The  number  of  Poles,  however,  in  the  ranks 

"See  Hayden,  pp.  24-28;   McClure,  pp.  81-83;   and  Okolowicz,  p. 
50. 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  115 

of  the  Socialist  Party,  in  the  organization  of  the 
Industrial  Workers  of  the  World,  and  in  other  simi- 
lar organizations,  is  rather  small.  The  Poles,  as  wo 
have  seen,  do  not  take  readily  to  radicalism  of  any 
kind,  although,  it  must  be  admitted,  that  tendency 
is  gradually  growing  stronger.  If  it  is  allowed  to 
gather  momentum,  it  will  be  unfortunate  all  around ; 
for  whatever  the  Pole  does,  when  he  has  been  fully 
aroused  to  action,  he  does  it  whole-heartedly,  and  is 
apt  to  go  the  limit. 

(d)  Protestant  Churches.— Those  occupying  a  sort 
of  half-way  ground  religiously  constitute  by  far  the 
largest  group.  Estranged  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  and  slowly  drifting  farther  and  farther 
away  from  it,  carried  by  the  gentle  waves  of  re- 
ligious doubt,  apathy,  and  indifference,  some  are 
actually  finding  their  way  into  Protestantism  as  a 
result  of  missionary  efforts.  The  Protestant 
Churches  of  America  came  early  to  realize  the  de- 
cay in  the  new  environment  of  the  inherited  form 
of  religion  of  many  of  the  immigrant  groups.  In 
consequence  thereof  they  have  strongly  felt  it  to  be 
their  Christian  and  patriotic  duty  to  meet  these 
people  with  a  new  conception  and  interpretation  of 
the  Christian  religion  and  of  its  place  and  function 
in  the  life  of  the  individual  and  of  organized  society. 
Thus  as  early  as  the  eighties  of  the  last  century  some 
of  the  Protestant  denominations  started  missionary 
work  among  the  Polish  immigrants,  and  have  been 
prosecuting  it  ever  since  with  varying  success.  Ac- 
cording to  denominational  statistics  for  1920,  the 
Baptists  report  17  churches  and  missions,  809  com- 
municant members,  2,000  adherents,  16  Sunday- 
schools  with  an  enrollment  of  580  scholars,  and  a 
Training  School  for  Christian  workers  in  East 
Orange,  N.  J.;  the  Methodists — 6  churches  with  a 
communicant  membership  of  180,  and  four  Sunday- 
schools  with  an  enrollment  of  258 ;  the  Episcopalians 


116  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

— 4  churches,  378  communicants  and  546  adherents ; 
the  Congregationalist — one  church  of  about  sixty 
communicant  members  and  a  fine  Sunday-school; 
and  the  Presbyterians — 3  churches  and  missions 
with  140  communicant  members  and  about  1,200  ad- 
herents, and  3  church-schools  with  an  enrollment  of 
nearly  500  children.16  Some  of  the  Poles  have  come 
under  the  direct  influence  of  English-speaking  Prot- 
estant churches,  and  have  united  with  them.  Others 
have  attached  themselves  to  undenominational  or- 
ganizations, like  the  Chicago  Tract  Society,  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  the  Y.  W.  C.  A. 

These  figures,  however,  do  not  appear  to  indicate 
a  very  strong  movement  among  the  religiously  drift- 
ing Poles  toward  Protestantism.  The  situation  re- 
quires explanation.  First,  everyone,  of  course, 
knows  that  the  statistics  cited  above  do  not  tell  the 
whole  story.  They  do  not  register  the  many  Poles 
w^ho  come  under  Protestant  influence,  thoroughly 
appreciate  its  religious  spirit,  its  moral  idealism, 
and  its  practical  Christian  life,  but  for  patriotic,  so- 
cial, and  business  reasons  do  not  unite  with  any 
Protestant  church  as  communicant  members.  Sec- 
ondly, every  period,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  of  de- 
cay and  reconstruction,  whether  in  political,  eco- 
nomic, or  in  religious  thought,  life,  and  organiza- 
tion, is  marked  by  chaos — by  uncertainty  and  hesi- 
tation. There  is  no  instant  and  direct  transforma- 
tion of  the  old  into  the  new.  When  the  old  has 
fallen  under  the  stress  of  inevitable  elemental 
forces,  the  ground  must  be  cleared  first  before  a 
new  and  better  structure  can  be  raised,  and  the  clear- 
ing of  the  ground  requires  labor  and  time.  Most  of 
the  present  work  is  of  the  nature  of  clearing  the 
ground  of  the  debris  and  wreckage  of  the  old,  of  dig- 
ging deep  below  the  surface  through  the  accumu- 
lated errors  and  prejudices  of  years,  even  centuries, 

"See  Denominational  Year-Books. 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  11T 

to  the  rock  bottom  of  the  human  soul,  and  of  first 
laying  a  new  and  sure  foundation  of  religious 
thought,  upon  which  in  time  the  superstructure  of 
new  religious  life  and  organization  may  rise  in  a 
more  beautiful  form.  This  kind  of  reconstruction 
work  is  necessarily  slow,  inconspicuous,  and  not 
easily  tabulated.  Thirdly,  it  must  be  frankly  ad- 
mitted, the  Protestant  denominations  have  not  taken 
their  religious  opportunity  among  the  Poles  seri- 
ously enough  to  make  the  work  really  effective. 
They  have  dealt  with  it  in  a  haphazard,  happy-go- 
lucky  way,  without  any  definite  policy  or  plan  for 
prosecution  of  the  work  and  without  that  faith  which 
makes  great  resources  of  means,  energy,  and  power 
available  for  the  removal  of  mountains  of  difficulties. 

Forms  of  religious  approach.— The  religious  ap- 
proach of  the  Protestant  Churches  to  the  Poles,  in 
so  far  as  there  has  been  any  definite  approach,  has 
taken  on  the  forms  of  (1)  distribution  of  religious 
literature,  (2)  gospel  preaching  or  evangelism,  and 
(3)  institutional  church  work.  The  first  two  have 
been  used  generally,  the  third — very  little.  The  so- 
cial settlement  form  of  approach  has  not  been  em- 
ployed in  the  Polish  work  by  any  Protestant  de- 
nomination. 

The  two  forms  of  religious  approach  most  widely 
used,  namely,  distribution  of  religious  literature  and 
gospel  preaching,  are  good  and  perfectly  orthodox; 
their  adaptation  or  application,  however,  by  the 
users  to  the  work  among  the  Poles  has  not  been  par- 
ticularly happy,  nor  specially  fruitful  of  results. 
This  has  been  due  to  the  fact  that  the  American. 
Protestant  Churches  have  labored  under  a  miscon- 
ception of  the  real  character  of  the  Polish  people 
open  to  their  ministry,  and  of  their  most  immediate 
needs.  Now,  the  business  of  every  good  mechanic, 
someone  has  said,  is  to  know,  first,  what  he  is  to  do, 
secondly,  the  material  at  hand,  then  he  will  know 


118  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

what  tools  to  select  to  convert  his  material  into  the 
desired  object.  The  Protestant  Churches,  engaged 
in  ministry  to  the  Poles,  have  reasonably  well  known 
what  they  wanted  to  do,  but  they  have  not  suffi- 
ciently well  understood  the  nature  of  the  material  at 
hand;  hence  their  tools,  or  methods  of  approach, 
have  not  always  been  happily  selected,  nor  skilfully 
adapted  to  the  purpose  in  view. 

The  material  has  been  new,  strange,  rough  and  in 
a  measure  even  uncouth  in  appearance.  The  Ameri- 
can Churches  have  naturally  been  led  to  think  that 
it  was  of  the  poorest  sort,  and  that  any  common 
ordinary  tools  put  in  the  hands  of  any  ordinary 
workman  that  was  only  willing  to  work  would  an- 
swer. The  simplest  kind  of  tract  literature  has  been 
selected  and  distributed;  preaching  has  been  con- 
ducted on  the  street,  or  in  some  abandoned  unattrac- 
tive store  room;  men  have  often  been  employed  to 
-do  this  kind  of  work  without  any  adequate  qualifi- 
cations, natural  or  scholastic,  for  leadership.  The 
methods  of  approach  and  the  means  employed  have 
been  determined  and  shaped  by  the  unfortunate  mis- 
conception, so  strongly  prevalent  among  Americans, 
that  the  people  to  be  dealt  with  are  of  the  lowest 
grade,  intellectually,  morally,  and  spiritually.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  the  ignorant,  unreasoning,  credu- 
lous class  of  Poles  is  not  the  class  of  people  that 
Protestantism  can  do  anything  for,  or  has  any  re- 
sponsibility for  at  this  time.  These  people  are  per- 
fectly contented  in  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church,  they 
are  staunchly  loyal  to  it,  they  are  inaccessible  to 
Protestant  influence.  To  disturb  them  would  be 
neither  wise,  nor  profitable.  Besides,  the  American 
Protestant  Churches  are  not  desirous  of  drawing 
any  contented  and  loyal  members  of  the  Roman 
^Catholic  Church  away  from  it.  They  believe  in 
comity,  peace,  and  harmony.  The  Poles  open  and 
accessible  to  Protestant  influence  and  ministry  are 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  119 

the  more  intelligent  and  thoughtful  class  of  people, 
the  people  who  read  and  think  for  themselves,  and 
even  dare  question  the  status  quo  of  such  a  sacred 
institution  as  the  church  and  its  function  in  organ- 
ized society.  They  are  the  ones  that  are  loose  and 
adrift.  To  these  the  Protestant  Churches  can  be  a 
religious  guide  and  interpreter,  leading  them  to  the 
discovery  of  a  new,  deeper,  broader,  and  surer  re- 
ligious foundation,  to  a  new,  vital,  liberating,  and 
invigorating  religious  experience,  and  to  a  higher, 
more  rational,  and  more  practical  conception  of 
religion. 

But  this  class  of  people  can  neither  be  reached  nor 
adequately  helped  by  the  kind  of  religious  literature 
we  have  been  placing  in  their  hands,  by  our  street 
preaching,  by  our  store  missions  any  more  than  the 
same  wide-awake,  restless,  thinking,  doubting,  ques- 
tioning class  of  native  Americans  can  be  reached  by 
such  means  or  by  similar  methods.  It  may  even  be 
seriously  questioned  whether  this  class  of  people 
can  be  reached  and  helped  by  preaching  alone.  A 
practical  demonstration  of  religion  and  Christian- 
ity along  the  line  of  economic  justice,  square  deal- 
ing, neighborliness,  ordinary  friendliness,  and 
Christian  social  helpfulness  are  always  more  effec- 
tive. Practical  Christian  helpfulness,  ministering  to 
practical  immediate  and  most  keenly  felt  needs  of 
humanity,  paves  the  way  to  a  higher  and  more  fun- 
damental, though  apparently  somewhat  more  ab- 
stract, ministry — the  ministry  to  the  basic  needs  of 
the  human  spirit.  Jesus  understood  this  perfectly 
well.  We  are  too  much  inclined  to  think  of  him  as  a 
preacher.  But  he  was  primarily  a  minister — a 
friendly  and  brotherly  minister,  going  about  doing 
good.  He  healed  the  sick,  fed  the  hungry,  comforted 
the  sorrowful,  and  thus  by  this  practical  friendly 
ministry  to  the  immediate  needs  of  men  and  women 
and  children  he  led  the  people  to  a  realization  of 


120  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

their  more  hidden  needs,  to  an  appreciation  of  hi& 
teaching  concerning  the  divine  life  he  was  an  ex- 
ample of,  and  to  an  awakened  desire  to  make  that 
life  their  own.  This  practical  ministry  to  the  more 
immediate  needs  of  the  immigrants  has  not  been 
very  popular  with  our  American  Protestant 
Churches,  because  it  has  not  seemed  to  be  sufficiently 
spiritual.  Institutional  church  work  and  social  set- 
tlement work  have  been  regarded  as  doubtful  meth- 
ods of  approach.  Sunday-school  work,  distribution 
of  religious  literature,  and  preaching  have  been 
chiefly  relied  upon  as  the  only  proper  methods  of 
religious  approach  to  the  immigrants.  But  even 
these  have  not,  unfortunately,  been  scaled  up,  in  the 
case  of  the  Poles  at  least,  to  the  spiritual  needs  of 
the  people. 

Thus,  the  forms  of  religious  approach  to  the  Poles 
heretofore  used  have  been  weak  in  two  points  as  a 
result  of  an  under-estimation  on  the  part  of  the 
Churches  of  the  value  and  importance  of  social  serv- 
ice work  as  well  as  of  the  character  of  the  Poles  open 
to  Protestant  ministry.  If,  in  the  future,  the  Prot- 
estant Churches  are  to  make  better  use  of  their  op- 
portunity among  the  religiously  restless  Poles,  they 
must  modify  their  forms  of  approach  in  favor  of 
(1)  greater  use  of  social  service  work,  (2)  more  ade- 
quate and  attractive  building-plants,  (3)  more  and 
better  qualified  workers,  (4)  a  larger  quantity  as 
well  as  a  better  quality  of  Polish  religious  litera- 
ture, and  (5)  a  broader,  more  rational,  and  more 
practical  interpretation  of  the  Christian  religion. 

SPECIAL  PKOBLEMS 

The  special  problems  in  the  religious  situation 
among  the  Polish  immigrants  in  this  country  are 
five  in  number:  (1)  Of  more  and  better  qualified 
porkers,  (2)  of  a  higher  grade  of  religious  litera- 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  121 

tare,  (3)  of  a  definite  and  consistent  policy  of  Polish 
evangelization  on  the  part  of  organized  Protestant 
forces,  (4)  of  interdenominational  co-operation,  and 
(5)  of  the  relation  of  the  foreign  language  church 
to  racial  assimilation  and  national  unification. 

Workers.— The  biggest  and  hardest  problem  fac- 
ing the  religious  work  among  the  Poles  is  that  of 
workers.  The  men  and  women  who  are  to  be  leaders 
in  the  reconstruction  of  the  Polish  religious  life 
must  be  men  and  women  of  the  very  finest  spiritual 
and  intellectual  qualifications.  They  must  possess 
deep  religious  convictions;  a  strong  faith  in  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus  as  the  only  hope  of  individual  and 
social  regeneration  and  in  Jesus'  ideal  of  life  as  the 
only  Way  of  life  leading  to  righteousness  and  jus- 
tice, achievement  and  success,  peace  and  happiness ; 
a  single  purpose,  namely,  to  serve  their  fellow-coun- 
trymen along  the  line  of  religious  idealism  and 
practical  Christian  helpfulness;  an  unfaltering  de- 
votion and  loyalty  to  that  purpose;  and  undaunted 
courage  in  the  prosecution  of  their  great  work.  The 
religious  work  among  the  Poles  is  of  such  nature 
that,  unless  the  workers  are  blest  with  these  spir- 
itual qualifications,  they  will  not  be  able  to  cope  with 
its  problems,  difficulties,  and  discouragements. 

Moreover,  the  Polish  workers  must  have  the  best 
possible  mental  training  and  intellectual  equipment 
for  their  work.  The  class  of  people  they  have  to 
deal  with  is  not,  as  has  already  been  stated,  the  ig- 
norant, unthinking,  credulous  class;  but  the  men- 
tally wide-awake,  thinking,  reading,  doubting,  and 
inquiring  class.  These  are  the  people  that  are 
breaking  away  from  the  Catholic  Church,  and  that 
are  in  need  of  new  religious  leadership.  If  they  are 
to  be  saved  from  complete  loss  of  religion  and  of 
its  dynamic  power  and  inspiration,  they  must  be  ap- 
proached by  men  and  women  qualified,  intellectu- 
ally and  spiritually,  to  be  their  leaders.    No  half- 


122  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

baked  individuals  with,  maybe,  a  lot  of  enthusiasm, 
but  very  little  knowledge,  insight,  and  understand- 
ing can  win  the  confidence  of  these  people,  still  less 
help  them  to  rebuild  their  religious  conceptions  and 
life  wisely  and  soundly.  It  was  the  well  trained 
Paul,  rather  than  any  of  the  simple,  uneducated 
Galilean  fishermen,  who  helped  the  religiously  dis- 
integrating Gentile  world  most  to  a  reconstruction 
of  its  religion  and  life  on  a  new  and  better  founda- 
tion. 

Then,  too,  the  religious  workers  among  the  Poles, 
or  any  other  immigrant  group,  must  have  an  Ameri- 
can point  of  view.  This  does  not  mean  that  they 
should  lose  their  feeling  of  oneness  with  their  peo- 
ple, or  their  sympathy  with  Polish  historical  tradi- 
tions, ideals,  and  aspirations.  Far  from  that. 
Should  that  ever  happen,  their  usefulness  would  ter- 
minate at  once.  We  can  acceptably  minister  and 
really  lead  only  when  we  truly  love  and  identify  our- 
selves fully  with  those  whom  we  wish  to  help.  The 
Polish  workers  must,  therefore,  be  thoroughly  iden- 
tified with  the  life  of  their  people,  and  must  share 
their  ideals  and  aspirations  sympathetically.  At  the 
same  time,  however,  they  must  be  well  acquainted 
with  American  history,  religious,  social,  and  politi- 
cal institutions;  they  must  understand  American 
life  in  all  its  phases,  its  spirit,  and  its  idealism ;  they 
must  be  thoroughly  sympathetic  with  best  American 
traditions  and  aims  in  order  that  they  may  be  able 
to  interpret  these  to  their  own  people  to  the  end  that 
their  people  may  not  forever  be  strangers  in  a 
strange  land. 

Most  of  the  Polish  people  are  here  to  stay.  By 
naturalization  they  have  identified  themselves  with 
the  life  of  the  nation.  Their  children  are  growing 
up  into  an  indistinguishable  part  of  the  nation.  The 
parents,  too,  should  be  led,  through  proper  acquaint- 
ance with  American  institutions,  their  spirit,  and 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  123 

ideals,  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  their  American  citi- 
zenship as  well  as  to  a  realization  of  their  responsi- 
bility as  American  citizens.  They  should  contribute 
of  the  best  in  their  national  history,  tradition  and 
character  to  the  development,  strength,  and  power 
of  their  adopted  country.  Their  life  here  can  be 
what  it  should  be  only  when  they  feel  perfectly  at 
home ;  and  their  value  to  the  nation  will  be  in  pro- 
portion to  their  entrance  into  its  life.  A  wise  lead- 
ership, well  acquainted  and  thoroughly  sympathetic 
with  the  inherited  tradition  and  the  new  environ- 
ment can  render  a  great  service  to  both — the  for- 
eign-born citizen  and  the  nation — along  the  line  of 
mutual  understanding  and  helpfulness.  A  leader- 
ship that  still  lives  and  moves  and  has  its  being 
altogether  and  exclusively  in  the  old  environment, 
is  useless  in  the  new,  with  its  new  atmosphere  and 
problems. 

Now,  anyone,  at  least  in  a  slight  measure  ac- 
quainted with  the  Protestant  work  among  the  Poles, 
knows  well  that  there  is  a  painful  scarcity  of  Prot- 
estant religious  workers  adequately  equipped  for 
their  stupendous  task.  The  first  special  business  be- 
fore the  American  Protestant  Churches,  therefore, 
is  to  recruit  and  train  a  strong  well-equipped 
Polish  religious  leadership.  Unless  the  Protestant 
Churches  have  real  leaders,  and  enough  of  them, 
they  cannot  help  the  Poles  to  reconstruct  their  dis- 
integrating religious  life. 

Literature.— The  second  problem  in  the  Polish  re- 
ligious work  is  that  of  literature.  Polish  evangelical 
religious  literature  is  surprisingly  limited  in  quan- 
tity, very  poor  in  qualtiy,  and  distressingly  anti- 
quated— lacking  in  adaptation  to  modern  religious 
problems,  perplexities,  and  needs.  Polish  religious 
books  and  pamphlets  available  in  this  country  num- 
ber scarcely  100  different  copies,  and  as  a  matter  of 
fact  the  writer  has  been  able  to  get  together  only 


124  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

70  different  copies.  The  majority  of  these  are  small 
pamphlets  and  tracts.  Forty  per  cent,  of  them  are 
translations  from  other  languages,  fifty  per  cent, 
are  reprints  of  tracts  published  abroad,  and  ten  per 
cent,  consist  of  Seventh  Day  Adventist  propaganda 
tracts.  A  very  small  portion  of  this  literature,  if 
any  at  all,  is  adapted  to  meet  either  the  religious 
difficulties,  or  the  spiritual  yearnings  and  needs  of 
the  average  Pole  of  today,  with  whom  the  Protestant 
Churches  have  to  deal,  and  whom  it  is  their  business 
to  reach  and  to  help. 

Polish  religious  periodical  literature  suffers  the 
same  limitations.  Altogether  there  are  three  Po- 
lish monthly  religious  periodicals.  The  "Slowa 
Zywota,"  or  " Words  of  Life,"  published  by  Rev. 
Dr.  R.  J.  Miller,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  the  Chicago 
Tract  Society  cooperating,  is  the  oldest.  This  paper 
is  strictly  evangelical  and  undenominational  in  char- 
acter. The  tone  of  its  reading  matter  is  devotional 
rather  than  instructive ;  and  while  it  has  filled  a  very 
important  place,  it  has  not  made  an  appeal  to  the 
very  class  of  Poles  who  should  be  the  special  con- 
cern of  American  Protestantism.  Great  credit, 
however,  is  due  Dr.  Miller  for  his  self-sacrifice,  pa- 
tience, and  perseverance  in  carrying  on  the  publica- 
tion of  this  paper  for  over  twenty  years  in  the  face 
of  financial  and  editorial  difficulties,  which  have 
been  trying  enough  to  force  an  average  man  to  give 
up  the  thankless  enterprise  long  ago.  The  next  old- 
est Polish  religious  monthly  is  "Zrodlo  Prawdy," 
"The  Source  of  Truth."  This  paper  is  published 
by  the  Baptists,  represents  the  Polish  Baptist  work, 
and  is  strongly  denominational  in  character.  Its 
reading  matter  is,  on  the  whole,  good  and  frequently 
much  to  the  point.  The  "Postep,"  or  "Advance," 
the  publication  of  which  was  discontinued  with  the 
December  number,  1920,  was  a  semi-religious  and 
strictly  undenominational  monthly,  published  by  the 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  125 

Presbyterians.  Its  attempt  was  to  meet  the  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  needs  of  the  more  thoughtful 
and  critical  Poles,  the  very  group  that  is  both  most 
restless  and  most  hopeful.  Unfortunately,  its  pub- 
lication had  to  be  discontinued,  owing  to  inadequate 
financial  support. 

The  Polish  secular  press  includes  a  number  of 
publications  that  are  open  to  and  from  time  to  time 
publish  religious  articles.  Their  difficulty,  however, 
has  been  to  get  readable  religious  matter,  dealing 
with  religion  in  a  broad,  unbiased,  intelligent,  and 
constructive  manner.  In  this  connection,  it  must  be 
confessed  that  the  Protestants  have  not  the  men 
who  either  are  qualified  to  write  such  articles,  or 
have  the  time  for  writing  them.  If  we  had  the  men 
with  proper  qualifications  and  the  necessary  time 
for  literary  work,  the  Polish  secular  press  would 
be  more  than  open  to  the  publication  of  good  re- 
ligious articles. 

It  should  not  be  necessary  to  emphasize  the  im- 
portance of  good,  up-to-date,  constructive  Polish  re- 
ligious literature,  book  and  periodical,  for  use 
among  the  Poles  at  this  critical  transitional  stage  in 
their  religious  life.  Yet  the  lack  of  such  literature 
is  so  acute  and  so  serious  that  one  need  not  hesitate 
to  call  the  attention  of  the  Protestant  religious 
forces  to  it,  and  urge  a  proper  and  speedy  remedy. 
The  second  imperative  task  before  the  Protestant 
Churches,  then,  is  to  provide  for  (1)  the  publication 
of  at  least  one,  and  if  possible  two,  good,  strong, 
undenominational  Polish  religious  periodicals,  which 
will  command  the  attention  and  the  respect  of  the 
more  thoughtful  Poles,  and  (2)  the  preparation  and 
publication  of  better  and  more  up-to-date  Polish 
tract  and  book  religious  literature,  namely,  (a)  de- 
votional but  instructive;  (b)  theological  or  philo- 
sophical but  written  in  simple  readable  language, 
dealing  with  religious  fundamentals,  solving  reli- 


126  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

gious  problems  that  perplex  the  modern  man,  and 
giving  the  readers  an  intellectual  basis  for  the  re- 
construction of  their  religious  life;  (c)  historical, 
dealing  with  the  development  of  the  Christian 
Church,  the  Reformation,  and  the  rise  of  the  differ- 
ent Protestant  denominations  and  their  distinguish- 
ing characteristics;  (d)  sociological,  treating  social 
problems  from  the  standpoint  of  Christianity,  and 
making  the  position  of  the  Church  clear  regarding 
social  justice  in  industry  and  commerce,  and  (e)  a 
series  of  Bible-study  handbooks  for  thoughtful  and 
inquiring  adults.  Such  literature  would  find  great 
acceptance  not  only  among  Polish  Protestants,  but 
also  among  the  clergy  and  laity  of  the  Polish  Na- 
tional and  the  Polish  Catholic  Churches  described 
above,  and  among  the  large  number  of  thoughtful 
Poles  who  are  at  present  without  any  church  affilia- 
tion ;  not  only  among  Poles  in  this  country,  but  also 
among  Poles  in  the  homeland. 

Protestant  policy.— The  question  of  a  definite,  con- 
sistent, and  statesmanlike  Protestant  policy  of  ag- 
gressive religious  work  among  the  Poles  constitutes 
the  third  problem.  Whatever  Protestant  religious 
work  has  heretofore  been  done  among  the  Poles,  it 
has  been  largely  sporadic  and  haphazard.  A  local 
church,  conference,  or  presbytery  has  here  and  there 
become  interested  in  a  local  group  of  Poles,  and  has 
tried  to  minister  to  them  after  a  fashion  in  its  own 
way.  The  national  denominational  boards  have  co- 
operated with  the  local  agencies  in  these  enter^ 
prises,  wherever  they  have  been  asked  to,  and  in  as 
far  as  expediency  has  permitted.  But  they  have 
not  had  the  initiative  in  the  matter,  owing  to  the 
independence  and  autonomy  of  local  church  bodies. 
The  initiation  of  new  work  has,  generally  speaking, 
depended  on  the  initiative  and  aggressiveness  of 
local  church  organizations.  This  decentralization  of 
authority  and  power  of  initiative  has  seriously  inter- 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  127 

fered  with  the  development  of  general  definite  poli- 
cies of  aggressive  religious  work  among  particular 
immigrant  groups  on  the  part  of  denominational 
boards.  The  effect  of  this  condition  of  things  has 
been  very  unfavorable  to  the  promotion  of  religious 
work  among  the  Poles,  whatever  its  effect  may  have 
been  among  other  immigrant  groups.  A  difficult 
problem  cannot  be  solved  by  playing  at  it,  but  by 
taking  it  seriously  and  by  working  on  it  hard  and 
systematically;  by  seeing  it  whole  and  by  dealing 
with  it  according  to  a  definite  plan  and  in  a  masterly 
way.  In  order  to  make  the  Protestant  religious  ap- 
proach to  the  Poles  more  effective,  the  Protestant 
forces  must,  in  the  third  place,  develop  more  definite, 
consistent,  and  more  statesmanlike  policies  for  the 
prosecution  of  this  work.  Weak,  incoherent,  hap- 
hazard efforts  will  get  them  nowhere.  The  work  is 
very  difficult,  and  its  problems  are  many  and  intri- 
cate. 

Interdenominational  cooperation.— Closely  con- 
nected with  the  problem  of  the  development  of  more 
definite  denominational  policies  for  the  prosecution 
of  the  religious  work  among  the  Poles  is  that  of 
inter-denominational  cooperation  in  this  work.  The 
immigrant  groups,  it  must  be  remembered,  are  ra- 
cial, and  in  some  cases,  like  that  of  the  Poles,  also 
religious  units.  They  act  as  units,  and  must  be 
dealt  with  as  units,  in  the  first  generation  at  leasts 
After  they  have  been  absorbed  into  the  life  of  the 
nation  as  integral  component  parts  of  it,  then  we 
not  only  may,  but  can  and  must  deal  with  them 
as  individuals.  In  the  first  generation,  however,  we 
must  deal  with  them  as  groups;  for  they  live  and 
act  in  groups.  Then,  to  reach  any  given  immigrant 
group  effectively,  we  must  have  quite  an  outfit  of 
absolutely  necessary  means:  workers  speaking  the 
language  of  the  group;  literature,  tract,  book,  and 
periodical ;  a  hymnology  and  books  of  worship  with 


128  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

special  forms  for  special  services  like  baptism, 
communion,  weddings,  and  funerals,  and  a  number 
of  other  more  or  less  important  things.  These  ob- 
viously cannot  be  properly  and  adequately  provided 
for  by  individual  efforts  of  this  or  that  local  church, 
group  of  churches,  or  even  denominations;  for  no 
denomination,  at  present  at  least,  is  either  willing 
to  confine  its  missionary  effort  to  one  or  two  par- 
ticular immigrant  groups,  or  capable  to  care  ade- 
quately for  them  all.  In  the  Polish  work,  for  in- 
stance, some  denominations  report  as  having  one 
Polish  church,  some  two  or  three,  and  only  one  has 
more  than  a  dozen  Polish  churches  and  missions. 
No  special  argument,  therefore,  is  needed  to  show 
that  under  existing  circumstances  no  denomination 
has  or  can  have  the  necessary  equipment  for  han- 
dling the  religious  work  among  the  Poles  with  any 
degree  of  efficiency. 

Nor  is  it  specially  desirable  that  the  Protestant 
denominations  should  try  to  be  self-sufficient  in 
every  particular.  There  are  some  things  that  can 
be  done  by  interdenominational  cooperation;  and 
they  can  be  done  this  way  better  and  more  economi- 
cally. Among  such  interdenominational  cooperative 
enterprises  in  the  Polish  work  may  be  included:  (1) 
the  recruiting  and  training  of  workers,  (2)  the  pub- 
lication of  one  or  two  good  religious  periodicals,  (3) 
the  preparation  and  publication  of  Polish  religious 
literature,  and  (4)  the  promotion  of  interdenomi- 
national conferences  of  religious  workers  for  mu- 
tual acquaintance,  exchange  of  experiences,  encour- 
agement, and  inspiration,  in  order  to  save  these 
workers  from  the  altogether  too  common  feeling  of 
isolation  and  loneliness,  which  frequently  drives 
them  to  cry  with  Elijah :  "It  is  enough,  0  Lord ;  take 
me  away  from  this  job;  for  the  feeling  of  being  a 
solitary  champion  of  thy  cause  is  too  dreadful;  I 
eannot  stand  it  any  longer* '  (Cf.  1  Kings  19:3,  4, 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  129 

10).  We  have  come  to  recognize  the  importance  of 
interdenominational  cooperation  along  several  lines 
of  work  on  the  foreign  field,  is  it  too  much  to  ask  of 
ourselves  to  recognize  its  importance  on  the  home 
field? 

The  foreign-language  churches  and  American  na- 
tional unity.— The  fifth  problem  is  that  of  the  rela- 
tion of  the  foreign-language  church  to  racial  assimi- 
lation and  national  unification.  Strictly  speaking,, 
this  is  not  a  real  problem,  but  chiefly  imaginary 
only.  For  that  reason  it  should  not  be  discussed 
here  as  a  problem  at  all,  were  it  not  for  the  constant 
fears  of  some  timid  patriots  that  the  foreign-lan- 
guage church  tends  to  be  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
racial  assimilation  and  of  national  unification.  To 
allay  the  useless  fears  of  these  troubled  souls  and 
set  their  minds  and  hearts  at  ease  as  speedily  as 
possible,  it  must  be  said  at  the  outset  that  the  for- 
eign-language church  in  this  country  is  only  a  tem- 
porary, transitional  institution,  serving  the  needs 
of  practically  only  the  first  generation  of  immi- 
grants and  possibly  the  older  portion  of  the  second 
generation.  Thereafter  it  of  necessity  either  be- 
comes transformed  into  an  English-speaking  church, 
or  quietly  passes  away  with  the  old  order  of  things. 
This  transformation  is  going  on  constantly,  stead- 
ily, noiselessly,  as  the  growth  of  all  natural  things. 
Feverish  uneasiness  about  it  and  loss  of  sleep  over 
it  is  not  going  to  hasten  the  change,  but  it  may 
seriously  disturb,  hinder,  and  retard  it. 

As  a  caution  to  the  American  Protestant  Churches 
carrying  on  work  among  immigrants  an  observation 
is  in  order,  calling  their  attention  to  the  altogether 
too  frequent,  very  loose  and  incorrect  use  of  de- 
scriptive terms.  The  substitution  of  "Americaniza- 
tion," or  "Christian  Americanization,"  for  "evan- 
gelization" or  "Christianization"  is  not  only  a  very 
incorrect  use  of  language,  but  also  very  misleading 


UO  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

and  frequently  very  mischievous.  In  the  case  of  the 
Poles,  for  instance,  who  have  been  made  keenly 
conscious  of  their  nationality  as  a  result  of  forcible 
Germanizing  and  Russianizing  policies,  and  who 
have  been  led  purposely  by  the  Roman  Church  to 
associate  these  denationalization  policies  with  re- 
ligious faiths  differing  from  that  of  the  Poles, 
namely,  Russian  Orthodoxy  and  German  Protest- 
antism, and  to  identify  Roman  Catholicism  with 
their  national  independence  and  liberty, — to  speak 
of  "Americanization"  even  if  that  term  is  sugar- 
coated  with  the  adjective  "Christian"  calls  instantly 
to  their  minds  all  their  unpleasant  experiences  un- 
der Russian  and  German  rule,  stirs  up  in  them  all 
the  old  fears  and  resentments,  and  places  them  un- 
necessarily in  an  antagonistic  position  to  the  influ- 
ences of  their  new  environment,  national  and  re- 
ligious. The  American  laissez  faire  policy  in  mat- 
ters of  nationalism  is  both  wise  and  sound.  Abso- 
lute non-interference  with  inherited  national  feelings 
has  been  the  strength  of  Americanism  and  a  most 
potent  cause  in  the  promotion  of  American  patriot- 
ism and  of  national  unity.  The  foreign-born  loves 
this  country  and  its  government  and  institutions  in- 
stinctively and  passionately,  because  he  is  not  mo- 
lested here  everlastingly  about  language  and  na- 
tionality. 

It  is  very  doubtful  whether  the  so-called  '  '  Chris- 
tian Americanization"  propaganda  of  the  American 
Protestant  Churches  is  helping  to  speed  up  real 
Americanization  of  the  immigrants;  but  it  is  cer- 
tain that  it  does  interfere  with  the  process  of  their 
Christianization.  This  is  particularly  true  of  the 
religious  work  among  the  Poles.  The  Polish  priests 
have  not  been  slow  to  use  that  as  a  scarecrow  to 
frighten  the  Poles  away  from  Protestant  Churches. 
Jesus  was  very  careful  not  to  allow  himself  to  be 
entangled  with  his  Gospel  in  the  meshes  of  national 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  131 

sentiments  and  prejudices,  it  would,  therefore,  be 
well  for  the  Christian  Church  to  exercise  the  same 
caution,  and  not  to  rush  where  the  Master  refused 
to  tread.  "Render  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are 
Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's.' ' 
Americanization  is  the  business  of  the  State.  If  the 
State  sees  any  need  of  a  special  Americanization 
propaganda,  it  doubtless  will  attend  to  it,  and  look 
after  it.  The  Church's  specific  business  is  Chris- 
tianization.  Let  her  discharge  her  specific  duty 
well  toward  the  immigrants;  and  no  foreign-born 
citizen,  really  and  truly  Christianized,  will  be  found 
wanting  in  American  patriotism  and  loyalty. 

PRACTICAL  SOLUTIONS 

Problems  call  for  solutions;  they  become  tasks; 
and  the-  more  difficult  they  are  the  more  imperative 
is  the  duty  to  solve  them. 

We  have  discovered  that  among  the  special  prob- 
lems in  the  religious  work  among  the  Poles  are  those 
of  more  and  better  trained  workers  and  of  more  and 
better  religious  literature.  The  question  now  is  how 
can  we  secure  both? 

There  are  two  ways  we  may  go  about  getting  the 
necessary  workers;  (1)  we  may  hope  to  find  them 
here  and  there  among  the  children  of  the  Polish  im- 
migrants, or  (2)  we  may  import  them  from  Poland 
from  among  the  Protestant  students  there.  On  the 
face  of  it  it  would  seem  that  the  first  method  would 
be  preferable.  It  would  give  us  workers  brought 
up  and  educated  in  this  country,  with  an  intellectual 
training  equal  to  our  English-speaking  ministry  and 
having  an  American  point  of  view.  There  are,  how- 
ever, several  things  against  it.  First,  it  is  uncer- 
tain. We  have  depended  upon  it  for  the  last  thirty 
years,  and  it  has  not  yielded  any  results.  Secondly, 
it  is  very  slow  in  its  operation.    If  American  in- 


132  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

dustry  had  depended  on  the  natural  increase  of 
population  for  its  workers,  it  would  be  still  in  its 
infancy,  and  the  country  would  still  be  largely  an 
undeveloped  wilderness.  Thirdly,  it  is  unpromis- 
ing. The  American  brought-up  children  of  the  im- 
migrants have  neither  the  language  of  their  parents, 
nor  the  sympathetic  understanding  of  the  first  gen- 
eration immigrant.  Workers  recruited  from  the 
second  generation  of  Poles  in  this  country,  on  fin- 
ishing their  education  here,  would  have  to  be  sent 
for  one  or  two  years  to  Poland  in  order  to  get  the 
language  and  a  better  and  more  sympathetic  under- 
standing of  their  own  people.  Unless  that  were 
done,  they  would  be  practically  useless  for  work 
among  their  people ;  nor  is  it  likely  that  they  could 
be  induced  to  take  it  up.  The  second  method,  on 
its  face,  is  not  very  appealing.  The  American 
churchman,  unlike  the  American  captain  of  industry, 
is  very  reluctant  to  think  of  importing  workers ;  and 
his  reluctance  is  based,  in  certain  respects,  on  some 
good  reasons.  Nevertheless  the  method  has  a  good 
deal  to  commend  it.  It  eliminates  the  element  of 
time  and  long  waiting  as  well  as  the  expense  of 
preparation ;  it  is  more  dependable  and  more  prom- 
ising as  to  results  than  the  first  method.  Some  of 
our  best  workers  among  the  Poles  in  this  country 
were  picked  out  on  the  other  side,  brought  to  this 
country  for  the  specific  purpose  of  doing  Christian 
work  among  their  countrymen,  given  the  finishing 
touches  of  education  in  our  institutions,  were  put  to 
work,  and  have  done  excellently  well.  What  has 
been  done  can  be  done  again,  provided  we  have  the 
vision  and  the  will.  The  American  Protestant 
Churches  should  be  as  resourceful  and  as  enterpris- 
ing as  American  industry.  Instead  of  helplessly 
waiting  for  a  chance  volunteer  here  and  there,  we 
should  look  for  volunteers  where  there  is  a  reason- 
ably good   prospect   of  finding  them,   among  the 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  133 

Protestant  students  of  Polish  gymnasia.  This  plan 
would  give  us  a  half -finished  product.  This,  in  fact, 
is  all  that  we  should  look  for.  We  should  not  look 
for  a  completely  finished  product;  for  we  want  to 
do  the  finishing  of  it  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
We  should  try  to  get  young  men  with  an  education 
corresponding  to  an  American-college  course,  and 
should  make  provision  to  give  them  the  seminary 
training  in  this  country.  This  would  enable  them  to 
acquire  the  English  language,  to  become  acquainted 
with  American  conditions  and  the  better  side  of 
American  life,  and  to  see  things  from  our  Ameri- 
can point  of  view.  The  seminary  course  would  serve 
the  double  purpose  of  a  theological  training  and 
a  process  of  acclimatization. 

The  theological  training  of  these  young  men 
should  be  provided  for  in  our  regular  theological 
seminaries.  They  should  by  no  means  be  segre- 
gated either  in  a  Polish  department  connected  with 
some  American  seminary,  or  in  a  polyglot  theologi- 
cal institution,  still  less  in  a  special  Polish  theologi- 
cal training  school.  If  they  are  to  become  sympa- 
thetically acquainted  with  American  life,  its  spirit 
and  its  ideals,  they  must  be  placed  in  an  American 
atmosphere;  they  must  come  under  the  instruction 
of  American  professors;  and  they  must  have  the 
contact  of  American  students.  Educational  segre- 
gation of  any  group  of  students  does  not  promote 
Americanization,  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term,  any 
more  than  the  segregation  of  immigrants  in  our  city 
and  country  communities. 

However,  it  would  be  very  desirable  for  the  men 
to  live  together  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  up  the 
language,  cultivating  their  spiritual  life  together, 
promoting  their  common  interests,  and  of  develop- 
ing a  sense  of  unity,  an  esprit  de  corps,  among  them- 
selves. To  an  all-round  equipment  for  their  special 
work  this  is  just  as  important  as  keeping  in  the 


134  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

closest  possible  touch  with  American  life.  They 
must  have  both  contacts.  The  loss  of  either  con- 
tact is  apt  to  be  serious.  This  arrangement  could 
be  easily  carried  out  in  a  city  like  Chicago,  where 
several  denominations  have  their  own  theological 
seminaries ;  Presbyterians — McCormick  Seminary, 
Congregationalists — Chicago  Theological  Seminary 
affiliated  with  the  University  of  Chicago,  Baptists — 
the  Divinity  School  of  the  University,  and  Metho- 
dists— Garrett  Biblical  Institute  at  Evanston.  Here 
the  Polish  students  of  the  various  denominations 
could  be  brought  and  grouped  together  in  a  Polish 
Student  Guild  House,  with  a  superintendent  in 
charge,  who  would  be  their  counsellor  and  guide; 
and  their  studies  they  would  pursue  in  their  respec- 
tive denominational  schools.  This  suggestion  fur- 
nishes a  practical  as  well  as  an  economical  solution 
of  a  very  difficult  problem. 

This  Guild  House  could  hold  also  a  press,  and  be 
the  center  of  Polish  religious  publication  activity, 
where  a  good  interdenominational  Polish  religious 
monthly  and  other  Polish  religious  literature  could 
be  issued.  The  superintendent  of  the  House  could 
act  as  Editor-in-chief  of  all  Polish  publications,  and 
the  students  could  cooperate  by  furnishing  some  lit- 
erary matter,  or  by  helping  in  the  press  room,  or 
in  various  other  ways.  This  is  another  practical 
solution  of  a  second  very  difficult  problem. 

This  suggested  solution,  however,  assumes  that 
the  Protestant  Churches  earnestly  desire  to  deal 
with  the  religious  situation  among  the  Poles  in  an 
aggressive  manner;  and  that  along  these  two  lines 
of  recruiting  and  training  workers  and  of  develop- 
ing an  up-to-date  Polish  religious  literature  they 
are  willing  and  ready  to  cooperate  in  the  interest  of 
the  Kingdom. 


A  BRIEF  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


A  BRIEF  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bain,  R.  N.  Slavonic  Europe,  Cambridge  University 

Press,  1908. 
"  Bain,  R.  N.,  The  Last  King  of  Poland,  G.  P.  Put- 
nam's Sons,  N.  Y.,  1909. 
,  Balch,    Emily    G.,    Our    Slavic    Fellow -Citizens, 

Charities  Publishing  Committee,  N.  Y.,  1910. 
Benson,  E.  F.,  The  White  Eagle  of  Poland,  George 

H.  Doran  Company,  N.  Y.,  1919. 
Boswell,  A.  B.,  Poland  and  the  Poles,  Dodd,  Mead 

&  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1919. 
Brandes,  George,  Poland,  a  Study  of  the  Land, 

People  and  Literature. 
Choloniewski,  Antoni,  The  Spirit  of  Polish  His- 
tory, Polish  Book  Importing  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1908. 
Clark,  E.  F.,  Old  Homes  of  New  Americans,  (Chaps. 

4-6),  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  Boston,  1913. 
Gardner,  Monica,  Poland,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons, 

N.  Y.,  1919. 
Gibbons,  H.  A.,  The  Reconstruction  of  Poland,  The 

Century  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1917. 
Harley,  J.  H.,  Poland— Past  and  Present,  Allen  & 

Unwin,  Ltd.,  London,  1917. 
Hayden,  Joel  B.,  Religious  Work  among  the  Poles 

in  America,  Missionary  Education  Movement, 

N.  Y.,  1916. 
Hourwich,  I.  A.,  Ph.  D.,  Immigration  and  Labor, 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  N.  Y.,  1912. 
Jenks  and  Lauck,  Immigration,  Funk  &  Wagnalls 

Co.,  N.  Y.,  1912. 
Lewinski-Corwin,  E.  H.,  Ph.  D.,  The  Political  His- 
V       tory   of  Poland,  Polish  Book  Importing  Co., 

N.Y.,  1917. 

137 


138  THE  POLES  IN  AMERICA 

Little,  F.  D.,  Sketches  in  Poland,  Frederick  A. 
Stokes  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1914. 

Lord,  R.  H.,  Ph.  D.,  The  Second  Partition  of  Poland, 
Harvard  University  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass., 
1915. 

McCluee,  Archibald,  Leadership  of  the  New  Amer- 
ica, George  H.  Doran  Company,  N.  Y.,  1916. 

Morfill,  W.  R.,  Poland,  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  N.  Y., 
1893. 

Phillips,  W.  A.,  Poland,  Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  N.  Y. 

Poland,  Her  People,  History,  Finance,  Science,  Lit- 
erature, Art  and  Social  Development,  Petite 
Encyc.  Polonaise  (Eng.  Edition),  Herbert  Jen- 
kins, Ltd.,  London,  1919. 

Eadosavljevich,  Paul  R.,  Ph.  D.,  Who  Are  the 
Slavs?  2  vols.  Richard  G.  Badger,  Boston,  1919. 

Shriver,  William  P.,  D.  D.,  Immigration  Forces, 
Missionary  Education  Movement,  N.  Y.,  1913. 

Slocombe,  G.  E.,  Slavonic  Europe,  Cambridge  Uni- 
versity Press,  1905. 

Van  Norman,  L.  E.,  Poland,  the  Knight  among 
Nations,  Fleming  H.  Revell  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1908. 

Thomas  and  Znaniecki,  Polish  Peasants  in  Europe 
and  America,  5  vols.,  University  of  Chicago 
Press,  1916. 

Whitton,  T.  E.,  A  History  of  Poland  from  Earliest 
Times,  Constable  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  London,  1917. 

Winter,  N.  0.,  Poland  of  Today  and  Yesterday,  L.  C. 
Page  &  Co.,  Boston,  1913. 


Almy,  Frederick,  Huddled  Poles  of  Buffalo,  The 
Survey,  Feb.  14th,  1911. 

Coulter,  C.  W.,  Poles  of  Cleveland,  Cleveland 
Americanization  Committee,  1919. 

Daniels,  J.,  Americanizing  80,000  Poles,  The  Sur- 
vey, June  4,  1919. 

Garrett,  L.  B.,  Notes  on  the  Poles  in  Buffalo,  The 
Survey,  Dec.  5th,  1904. 


A  BRIEF  BIBLIOGRAPHY  139 

Jan,  the  Polish  Minor,  The  Outlook,  March  26,  1910. 

Journal  of  the  American-Polish  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce and  Industry,  953  Third  Ave.,  New  York 
City. 

Spirit  of  Poles  in  America,  The  Survey,  Sept.  28, 
1918. 

The  Pole  in  the  Land  of  the  Puritan,  New  England 
Magazine,  October,  1903, 


INDEX 


Agriculture,  Polish,  38;  small 
farms,  39;  small  productive- 
ness, 39;  possible  improve- 
ment, 42. 

Agriculture  in  U.  S.,  74,  75. 

Alliance,  Polish  National,  90, 
100. 

Aristocracy,  The,  21;  blind  self- 
ishness of,  36. 

Assimilation,  100-101. 

Americanization  or  Evangeliza- 
tion, 129-131. 

Bibliography,  137-139. 
Boleslaw  the  brave,  19. 
Boleslaw  III,  21. 
Business,  Poles  in,  75. 

Christianity  in  Poland;  intro- 
duced, 18;  development,  51; 
influence  on  economic  develop- 
ment, 19. 

Church,  The:  Important  social 
institution,  20,  21,  92; 
estrangement  of  educated 
classes  from,  53;  peasant  loy- 
alty to  and  reverence  for,  54; 
Polish  Protestant  Churches  in 
U.  S.,  115-117;  Baptist,  115; 
Methodist,  115;  Protestant 
Episcopal,  116;  Presbyterian, 
116;  Polish  Catholic  Church  of 
America,  114;  Polish  National 
Independent  Catholic  Church, 
113-114;  anti-church  organiza- 
tions, 114-115;  church  and 
state  in  Poland,  20,  29. 

Cracow,  the  ancient  capital,  24. 

Clergy,  The,  21. 

"Dark  Ages"  of  Poland,  23. 
"Decline  and  Fall"  of  Poland; 
causes,    36;    a.    elective    king- 


ship, 36;  b.  Catholic  reaction, 
36;  c.  outside  interference,  36; 
d.  autocratic  selfishness,  36. 

Education:  in  old  Poland,  44- 
46;  new  Poland,  47;  in  Ga- 
licia,  46. 

Educational  institutions :  the 
parochial  school,  45;  the  pub- 
lic school,  44-46;  .public  and 
parochial  schools  of  U.  S.  com- 
pared, 93,  94;  secondary 
schools,  46;  Polish  in  U.  S., 
96;  night  schools,  97;  lecture 
courses,  97;  Polish  national 
halls,  97-98. 

Economic  prosperity  of  15th  and 
16th  centuries,  32. 

Family  life,  86. 

Galicia,  33,  39,  40-47,  58,  59. 
"Golden   Age"   of   Poland,   31, 
33. 

Historical  beginnings,  18-38. 
History  of  Poland,  17. 
Hodur,  Bishop  Francis,  113. 
Holidays,  numerous,  42. 
Housing  in  the  U.  S.,  48. 
Hussite  movement,  27,  28,  29,  33, 
52. 

Illiteracy,  high,  45. 

Immigration  to  the  United 
States,  57-65;  early,  57;  later, 
58;  volume  of,  58;  causes  of, 
59;  character  of,  60-61;  dis- 
tribution and  location  of,  61- 
63;  migration  within  IT.  S., 
63;  return  movement,  64;  fu- 
ture prospects,  64,  65. 


141 


142 


INDEX 


Industries  in  Poland,  41,  43,  44. 
Industry  in  U.  S.,  Poles  in,   70 
seq. 

Jagiello  (Ladislas  II),  27;  reor- 
ganized and  endowed  univer- 
sity of   Cracow,  27. 

Jews  in  Poland,  34,  65. 

Kazimer  the  Great,  25,  26. 
Kazimer  IV,  29,  51. 
Kruska,   Father,  quoted,   73,   78, 
93,  110. 

Leadership,  91-100,  123. 

Literature  of  Poland,  33,  34,  35. 

Literature  in  U.  S. :  Protestant 
religious,  124 ;  undenomina- 
tional paper  advised,  125;  up- 
to-date  tracts  advised,  125, 
126 ;  hand  books  for  adults  ad- 
vised, 126. 

Literary  lights,  34,  35. 

Lithuania  and  Poland,  25;  union 
with  Poland,  26. 

Mazur,  Bishop  Francis,  114. 
Mieszko    I,   founder   of   Poland, 

18. 
Morality,  87. 

National  Diet  or  "BeJEi,"  ori- 
gin of,  30;  composition  and 
powers,  30-31. 

National  halls,  97-98. 

Organizations,  secular,  religious 
and  mixed,  47;  in  United 
States,  90-92. 

Peasantry,  Conditions  of:  eco- 
nomic, 39;  social,  48,  49; 
housing,  48;  food,  48;  cloth- 
iflg?  49;  group  life,  49;  char- 
acter of,  50. 

Piast  dynasty,  26,  30. 

Polish  history,  period  of:  (1) 
formative,  18-23;  (2)  growing 
power,  prosperity  and  influ- 
ence, 24;  (3)  decline  and  fall, 
36-37;  (4)  struggle  for  inde- 
pendence, 37;  (5)  restoration, 
1918,  37. 


Polish  immigration  in  TT.  S.:  in 
agriculture,  73,  74;  in  busi- 
ness, 75;  in  industry,  76;  in 
professions,  76;  standards  of 
living,  wages,  political  rela- 
tions, 89-90;  property  hold- 
ings, 77-79;  loyalty  in  war, 
religious  heritage,  107,  109; 
religious  disintegration,  110- 
112;  radicalism,  114-115. 

Press,  Polish:  in  Poland,  47;  in 
TT.  S.,  98,  99,  123-125. 

Protestant  missionary  policy, 
126;  organized  and  aggressive, 
127 ;  interdenominational  co- 
operation, 127-128. 

Prussia,  a  part  of  Poland,  30. 

Eecreation,  49. 

Eeformation  in  Poland,  The,  32, 
52;  influence  on  language  and 
literature,  33,  34. 

Eeligious  eonditions  in  Poland, 
109. 

Eeligious  faiths  in  Poland,  107- 
108. 

Eeligious  problems  in  the  TJ.  S., 
120-131;  (1)  workers,  121; 
(2)  literature,  124-126;  (3) 
Protestant  policies,  126-127; 
(4)  interdenominational  co- 
operation, 127-128;  (5)  for- 
eign language  churches,  129- 
130;  (6)  practical  solutions, 
131  seq. 

Eenaissance  in  Poland,  The,  27. 

Eestoration  of  Polish  sovereignty, 
1918,  37. 

"Szlachta"  (The  Nobility),  30, 
31. 

"Sejm"  (national  diet),  30,  31; 
Origin,  composition  and  pow- 
ers of,  31. 

Social  conditions  of  Poles  in  TJ. 
S.,  83-102;  1.  in  general,  83; 
2.  housing,  83-84;  3.  cleanli- 
ness, 86;  4.  family  life,  86-87; 
5.  intermarriage,  87;  6.  rela- 
tion to  native  Americans,  88; 
7.  recreation  and  social  life, 
88-89. 

Struggle  for  independence,  19. 


INDEX 


143 


Tartar  invasions,  22. 
Teutonic  knights,  29,  30. 

University  of  Cracow,  26-28,  33. 

Wages,  42,  69-70. 

Wars:  with  jealous  neighbors, 
19,  20;  German  Empire,  19, 
20;  Bohemia,  20,  25;  Teutonic 
knights,  23,  29;  Hungary,  20; 
Tartars,  22;  Austria,  26,  and 
Eussia,  20. 


Women,  49 ;  in  industry  in  TJ.  S., 
71. 

Workers  (religious)  among 
Poles;  scarcity  of,  123;  kinds 
needed,  121;  deeply  religious, 
121;  best  possible  mental 
equipment  and  training,  121; 
must  have  American  viewpoint, 
122;  training  schools  for,  131- 
133. 

Wladyslaw  (Ladislas)  I,  24,  25, 


